THE NEW CITIZEN KANE Ratbag Joy

Kane Luke, operating under his alter ego The New Citizen Kane, delivers a jolt to the Indie Dance circuit with “Ratbag Joy”, a track that boldly merges euphoria with existential unease. From the first beat, it’s clear this isn’t just another club banger. There’s an electric tension embedded in the rhythm a pulse that pulls you in while hinting at something much darker underneath. Kane’s sonic architecture here is like a house of mirrors: dizzying, dazzling, and deliberately disorienting. The glossy production masks a sense of decay, making the song feel like a party at the end of the world.

Kane has never been more incisive. His words paint fragmented scenes of desperation and denial gas station highs, midnight confessions, and the artificial glow of nightlife. There’s a poetic brutality in how he captures the chaos of escapism, threading lines like “sins high on a low town drive” with aching precision. Rather than wallowing, the track dances its demons into a frenzy, juxtaposing lyrical despair with buoyant beats that almost mock the very emotions they carry. This isn’t contradiction it’s confrontation dressed in sequins.

What makes “Ratbag Joy” remarkable is its refusal to simplify emotion. Kane weaponizes sound: candy-coated synths clash with ghostly echoes, while vocal effects plunge you into the fractured psyche of the narrator. The chorus becomes a mantra, numbing yet infectious, like a smile you hold too long. There’s no resolution here, and that’s the point. This is the sound of someone sprinting toward oblivion with glitter in their hair and tears in their teeth. Kane doesn’t offer comfort; he offers clarity through chaos.

The accompanying video is a fever dream of neon melancholy. Quick cuts, surreal vignettes, and hollow-eyed characters swirl through a landscape of excess and emptiness. It’s as cinematic as it is intimate a perfect partner to the song’s sonic and emotional layers. “Ratbag Joy” stands as a daring artistic statement: an ode to the paradoxes we live with, the personas we adopt, and the truths we dodge. Kane isn’t chasing trends he’s holding up a mirror and daring us to dance in front of it

Written by Patrick