SBTRKT has announced his first new album in seven years, The Rat Road, the follow-up to 2016’s Save Yourself. “This album has been my most sonically ambitious record to create, following my own musical path, which isn’t based on others’ perceptions of what SBTRKT should be,” he said in a statement, continuing:

“The Rat Road” is a play on the concept of “the rat race.” 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.

Last year, SBTRKT re-emerged after an extended absence with “Bodmin Moor,” then his first new track in six years, and he followed it up with a string of 2022 singles, including “Miss The Days,” “Ghost,” and “Forward.”

Today, he’s shared a new single called “Waiting,” which features Teezo Touchdown. He noted:

I’m always listening to and looking out for new music, and I came across a song of Teezo’s, “I’m just a fan,” on October 21. By serendipity, he was heading to London the next week, so we connected in person. In some ways—although personal to Teezo too—it perfectly summed up everything I had been going through. It therefore felt like the most obvious song to then lead into my album with. Musically, it’s an expansion on my previous records, with a purposefully wider and more layered sound. All instruments on this song and the album were played, recorded, produced, and mixed by me.

Listen below.

The Rat Road is out 5/5.