WHEN U WERE MINE sounds exactly like the way it was made: scrappy, impulsive, and full of heart. Recorded with bargain-bin gear and a beer-soaked laptop that somehow survived the process, Ratfink!’s debut full-length embraces imperfection as an aesthetic and a philosophy. Across the record, Liv and Raph trade vocals with an easy intimacy that mirrors the subjects they circle: friendships that blur into something else, relationships mid-collapse or mid-discovery, coming out, staying soft in a hard world. It’s DIY not as a pose, but as a necessity and a strength, where limitations become texture and closeness becomes the point.
Can you walk us through the story or emotion behind this track?
KEEP YA DREAMS is supposed to be a lil tongue in cheek tune about someone who brings you down. It was stitched together from three different songs I had lying around, which is why it feels a little disjointed. My favourite part is the guitar solo… to me it sounds like those kids from City of God smoking a spliff on a beach somewhere in Brazil, without a care in the world.
For those who might not know you yet, how would you introduce yourself?
A bit of a ruffian, a wanderer, a dreamer – a ratfink! I like playing cheap guitars turned up to eleven and getting vintage reverby drum sounds. And the bass is my favourite instrument. Says it all really. Cause once you got a groove sorted you can do anything. Its where the heart of every song lies.
If you had to bottle up your sound into just three words, which ones would you choose?
Trippy surf rock.
Which artists (not only music-related) or moments have left the biggest mark on your music?
Probably Dick Diver. They’re a little Melbourne band that sounds so warm and huge. And they sing about kitchen sink realism over unconventional song arrangements. Magical stuff, really.
When you hit play on your songs, what kind of feeling takes over?
A bit of nostalgia to the time and place it was recorded. I always go into a bit of a trance.
If you could team up with anyone in the world—no limits—who would be that dream collaborator?
I dunno I tend to do everything myself… maybe I could write a song for Shogun from Royal Headache.
And finally, what are you working on now, and what are your plans for the future? Anything exciting you can tell us about?
I got a funky EP coming out some time next year. But just gonna focus on gigs at this stage!
Look fir Rarfink! on socials:
https://ratfinkmusic.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/38155llUsozyWvupWRusNy?si=TWF1wcOyTTiaIvczVDQ3vw
https://ratfinkmusic.bandcamp.com/
https://youtube.com/@ratfinkmusic?si=oeHH_VMBESq1SAMm
https://www.instagram.com/ratfunnk
