Rats On Rafts

Formed in 2005, Dutch indie quartet Rats on Rafts continually reshapes its post-punk-rooted approach through ongoing experimentation. The Rotterdam-based lineup includes David Fagan on vocals and guitar, Arnoud Verheul on guitar, Natasha van Waardenburg on bass and vocals, and Mathijs Burgler on drums. Early on the group took cues from new wave and post-punk acts including Echo & the Bunnymen, the Teardrop Explodes, and fellow Dutch band the Ex. A self-released EP titled So Long, And Thanks for All the Fish surfaced in 2008, yet the band’s first real opening arrived via its 2010 cover of Dutch new wave outfit Kiem’s “The Moneyman.” That track paved the way for a deal with Subroutine Records, which issued the debut album The Moon Is Big in 2011; Universal-affiliated TopNotch Records later gave it a nationwide reissue in 2012.

Thereafter the quartet’s output grew more ambitious and exploratory. Tape Hiss arrived in 2015 and gained wider international reach through British indie Fire Records. A joint album with De Kift followed in 2016. The 2019 single “Where Is My Dream?” set the stage for the expansive third studio effort Excerpts from Chapter 3: The Mind Runs a Net of Rabbit Paths, which surfaced in 2021 and incorporated psychedelic, prog rock, and Krautrock elements after the band’s 2018 Japanese tour alongside Franz Ferdinand. A live document, Visions of Chapter 3: Live at TivoliVredenburg, appeared the next year. In 2025 the group delivered Deep Below, a more direct excursion into goth rock and dream pop that shares almost nothing with its noisier, more experimental predecessors.