“The Rat Road is a play on the concept of ‘the rat race,’” Sbtrkt said in a statement. “It’s partly based on my own challenging experiences within the music industry and life generally, though I realized the idea is not isolated from a much wider feeling of exhaustion—definitely true here in the UK with little sense of respite from ever increasing costs, decreasing opportunity, and a bold divide and conquer mentality. There is a juxtaposition in the record between determination and hopelessness.”