Squeaks Tall Reeds, the debut full length from Betty Rats is an exercise in controlled insanity. The Betty Rats locked themselves in a cabin on a river in Nowheresville, TN and over the course of one week in January of 2008 they drank, smoked, sang, danced, laughed, ...cried a little, and while operating on very little sleep recorded this bewildering welter of songs.

The recording process was fairly romantic. Preparing for the days to come, they stocked up on chips, lots of alcohol and orange juice, and other foods. Then they set out for the cabin in Franklin County and four days of recording. The bulk of the album's tracks were recorded live in the Cajun-style cabin in Franklin County, Tennessee. Setting up in the living room with no more than 10 feet between any two players the Betty Rats strived to capture the raw energy and spontaneity of a live performance, and at the same time, provide an honest account of themselves as a band. Primarily, Betty Rats didn't want to sound like perfectly-isolated robots, a la Rick Rubin*. On the second day, a thunderstorm rolled in and at first seemed to ruin the prospect of recording until the noise stopped. Rather than write off the day, some microphones were repositioned and the storm was captured as well as the toy piano track ("Piano Intro"), which opens the album.

When asked about the ideas behind Squeaks Jeb Morris responded, “Squeaks Tall Reeds generally deals with notions of transcendence—as represented by the Pink Water, which for us symbolizes a sort of window through to an alternate reality; a beacon for guiding the third eye.”

Diner Dionysus (about a diner where inhabitants toast the thrills and spills of moving past the brink) and Dress Up, Pink Cup (about a man who lives out abstract fantasies by listening to records and dressing up in women's clothing) both explore this notion of transcendence. Tapdance Syndrome, one of the more energetic and lively songs, opening with the lines “Ok, Hello. Welcome. Please don't go! I'll do anything you ask of me to make it all right,” is not so much a plea for the audience to stay, but an examination of the rush of conflicting feelings that surge forth when performing in front of people. It is about the blinding excitement and confusion of being on stage, the desperate need for approval, the cynical backlash that boasts I don't mind if you throw tomatoes, as long as you're paying attention, and finally the elevated sense of sharing these emotions with the people watching.

Loosely detailing the journey of an unnamed protagonist who travels into the forest and becomes a tree, the vocal rant featured in the second half of Electro revisits the goal of Batty Rats to embrace spontaneity and improvisation in their songs. This also calls to attention another thematic sentiment that seems to move through the album: that of some symbiotic ode to nature. It turns up in songs like Squirrel Song, Sure to Roll, Fireflies, and Still Life. It is also present in the efforts to record organically.

*We briefly considered calling the album Fuck Rick Rubin.