Each day of December this year, I’m highlighting one of my favourite albums of 2024. Counting down the list, we start with #31 on December 1st and go all the way down until we’ve reached #1 on December 31st. Today, #30 on my Album of the Year list: RAT BOY – ‘SUBURBIA CALLING‘.

It was probably a bit naive of me thinking that an album starting off with a ska song would make it very high on my Album of the Year list. RAT BOY returned with ‘SUBURBIA CALLING’, a mixture between indie rock and some laidback kind of ska. Some might call that reggae, but I wouldn’t go as far as saying RAT BOY’s latest touches upon my least favourite genre just yet. There’s still not much to this album that I really enjoy, though. 

At first listen, I didn’t mind the title track of this album too much but lyrics like “On the M25, what a time to be alive” just don’t do it for me at all. I understand being from Chelmsford isn’t something to write home about but this album’s recurring theme – which I sense to be something along the lines of ‘London’s too expensive, therefore I don’t live there and feel the need to complain about that’ – is getting a bit old. Perhaps try going up north. I know for a fact living in Carlisle isn’t all too expensive and it’s bloody lovely up there. Apparently, this album is about RAT BOY returning to their roots but next to the overarching living crisis theme, I can’t quite pin down most other songs. All in all it feels like a bit of a random collection of tunes with the occasional stand-outs such as ‘BADMAN’ or ‘HANDBAGS AT DAWN’.