With one of the most emotive opening guitar melodies we’ve heard in, well, forever, and guitar solos that Slash couldn’t have done better in the middle-eight, which leaves you reaching to crank up the volume, Brandon Bing’s polished country rock vignette of working-class culture in Rat Race is as tenacious as it is electrifying.
It seems somewhat paradoxical to derive so much pleasure from a single which traverses the precariousness of stability for the billions of working-class people trapped in the rat race and numbing themselves by any means necessary, but therein lies the beauty of Brandon Bing as a raconteur of country rock gospel.
It’s a drastic contrast from the last time we heard Bing with his feel-good honkytonk hit, Don’t Bring Your Car to a Rodeo, and while we didn’t dare underestimate his versatility, Rat Race gave us infinitely more than we bargained for with the earworm which starts with an instant hook. Just try telling us he isn’t one of the best contemporary country writers around.
Rat Race was officially released on June 9th; hear it on Spotify.
Review by Amelia Vandergast
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