Ratfink! return with “Gay Song,” a gentle yet brave piece of indie folk storytelling that captures the vulnerability as well as the strength of coming out. It’s the second single from their forthcoming album “WHEN U WERE MINE” and it may just be the most personal they’ve been yet.
High school friends Liv and Raph make up Ratfink! and are staking out a singular place in the DIY pop landscape from their snug share house in Brunswick. If their debut single “About Ya” was idling on a dreamy pop frequency, “Gay Song” goes down a more rooted, close-up path, marinated in raw-folk textures and grunge-pop tenderness. “Gay Song” is a very human meditation on identity, on being a gay person growing up in a conservative community. Liz’s vocals are unvarnished, her daughter’s are raw, but her mother has the burn and ache of confessional defiance.
Each word is delivered with quiet conviction, as if whispered to a younger self or offered as solace to those still struggling to find their identity. The track comes with a quiet beauty. Ratfink! doesn’t overcomplicate the arrangement, allowing the story to breathe. Gentle acoustic strums and lo-fi production create an almost diary-like closeness, as if we’re sitting right there in the room with them, finally getting to hear a truth that they’ve carried around for years. Part of what makes “Gay Song” so engaging is its refusal to dramatize. It’s not attempting to be an anthem or a protest.
It’s just a moment of quiet, brave expression, a sliver of life sung with a gamer-level of humility and love. That candor registers harder than any hook. With this release, Ratfink! prove that they are storytellers with something real to say. “WHEN U WERE MINE” looks more and more like not just an album but an archiving of youth, patched with heart. “Gay Song” is for anyone who’s ever felt like they had to conceal something. And for that, it’s a must-hear.
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