Premium Rat knows they can't go it alone.

The Ypsilanti indie-rocker embraces that mindset while exploring the need for connection and community on their debut album.

“That has been the journey of my life because I’ve always been a very independent person and a person who’s not good at asking for help,” said Mer Rey, who performs as Premium Rat, about Stranded on Land.

“This album tells the story of me learning that lesson—that no person is an island—and I can’t do it all myself.”

Premium Rat follows that story arc throughout Stranded on Land’s 12 tracks, which were curated against a backdrop of multi-genre sounds.

“The idea of Stranded on Land is starting the album feeling very disconnected from the world and people around me, feeling like I didn’t understand or belong in the world, and feeling very isolated and alone with that feeling,” said Rey, who features elements of pop punk, indie rock, dance-pop, indie folk, and Broadway music on the album.

“As the album goes on, it tells the story of me finding community, finding other people who also felt that way, and realizing, ‘Oh, I’m stranded on land, but so are a bunch of other people, and we’re actually stranded together.’ And that is how we [find] our way out and claim our freedom—by doing that together.”

Premium Rat seamlessly conveys the album’s story arc through evocative lyrics, emotive vocals, and cinematic instrumentation. With each song, it feels like you’re listening to the soundtrack of a memorable movie.

“I love movies … and the album ended up having a lot of cinematic elements,” Rey said. “I didn’t know originally that was going to be a part of my sound. And then it made so much sense because a lot of the songs I have little movies for them in my head.”

Premium Rat opens Stranded on Land with the tender track, “Portent,” which reflects their fear and uncertainty about the future.

Accompanied by solemn electric guitar, they sing, “Still there’s a storm on the horizon / Will we ever draw our eyes in close? / What do the clouds forebode?”

“I wanted the first song to be more of a worldbuilding [scenario] … and I think of it as the opening credits for a movie,” Rey said. “It’s before the plot starts, and it sets the scene.”

After setting the album’s opening scene on “Portent,” Premium Rat ventures to the New England suburbs of their childhood on “Connecticut.” The energetic pop-punk track expresses a desire to leave a cookie-cutter world behind and build a new life elsewhere.

Backed by driving electric guitar, they sing, “Turns out rich friends and a broken home / Don’t do a lot to make you feel less alone / Running on naïve New York dreams in Connecticut / Could only see suburban streets as desolate.”

“It immediately felt like an emotional centerpiece, and it was learning about what I didn’t want. Writing that song allowed me to accept that was how I felt about it,” said Rey, who grew up in Norwalk, Connecticut.

“It’s a rejection of Connecticut, but it’s also a metaphor for rejecting that prescribed pathway of going to college, getting a degree, getting a job, getting married, getting a house in the suburbs, and living your life out there. It freed me to find what I do want.”

Premium Rat also experiences freedom on the empowering dance-pop anthem, “Feral Mermaid,” which celebrates trans joy and gender euphoria.

Upbeat synth and electric guitar echo Rey’s bliss as they sing, “It could be said that I am lost at sea / But it’s more like I’ve found a new kind of peace / And struggling against the current can make you stronger / Now I know how to breathe underwater.”

“I was coming to terms with being nonbinary, and I was having a lot of insecurity. I didn’t know how to describe my gender to other people, and that made me question if it was real. I thought, ‘If I can’t describe it, then what right do I have to claim it as an identity?’” they said.

“I was talking about that with one of my friends, and they gave me advice to do an exercise where you sit down and write words or phrases that describe your gender to you. And out of that came the term, ‘feral mermaid,’ and that felt very meaningful to me.”

Next, Premium Rat shifts from euphoria to frustration on “Bullshit,” a Broadway-inspired interlude about feeling trapped and powerless in society.

Alongside haunting piano and violin, they sing, “All our souls are empty / Vessels for power and stuff / And all your good intentions / Will never be enough.”

“It was a very cathartic experience to pour out my frustrations. I don’t feel that way all of the time. I want to hold grace for people because we are incentivized to tell ourselves lies. There are structural forces that do make it hard to change things and work to make us feel powerless,” Rey said.

“That’s a reality that I want to hold, but I also liked having this song on the album. Sometimes I don’t have that grace, … and it felt like an important aspect to include on [it].”

“Bullshit” also lays the groundwork for “Jenga Blocks,” a clever pop-punk satire about seeking retribution on society’s oppressors.

Fueled by fiery electric guitar and drums, Rey sings, “The house of cards will cease to stand when the bottom rung comes hand in hand / Don’t think we aren’t prepared to fight through what may be an endless night.”

“It came from a real, serious place, but I think we have to be able to laugh at these dark things … and identify the humor in it,” they said. “I was trying to write from a sincere place but not make people feel down, and that’s where we leaned into those vibes for the video.”

Finally, Premium Rat looks inward and outward on “Please,” a vulnerable ballad about overcoming depression and longing for connection.

Surrounded by contemplative acoustic guitar, they sing, “Lately, I’ve been on some sad girl shit / But I’m only kind of a girl, now that I think about it / I’m more of a sea creature stranded on land / Guess that’s why I resent water that’s frozen.”

“I wanted to add that song so that it was a fitting closer for the album in broad themes,” said Rey, who named the album after a lyric in the song. “That was where that last bridge and chorus came from. I did little things like that to tie it all together.”

Premium Rat started writing songs for what became Stranded on Land in 2020. They wrote about 30 songs and continued to write through 2022.

“I’m a lyrically driven songwriter … because those are very important to me,” Rey said. “The goal was to get the music and the production to enhance the lyrics and have them work together to create an emotional landscape.”

To bring the album to life, Premium Rat enlisted cousin Sam Gillies—who records as drum ‘n’ bass artist Sebastian Wing—to produce it. Rey and Gillies spent three years recording Stranded on Land at Gillies’ home studio in Ann Arbor.

“The first two years, we made some things that made it onto the final album. But the majority of the first two years was figuring out what I wanted it to sound like and what my sound was,” Rey said.

“It was also Sam figuring out how to produce in a genre that's different than what he's used to working in. And him listening to music in that genre and learning about some of the conventions and the way drums are mixed completely different than they are in electronic music.”

Recording the album also allowed Premium Rat to sharpen their skills as a lead guitarist, while Gillies added piano and Rey’s father, Jonathan Gillies, played bass on “Mourn Me.”

“I’m playing all the guitars, and that was a thing I had to learn,” said Rey, who plays bass on a couple of tracks. “I had never played lead guitar and was scared of lead guitar. That was a fun process [of] getting better at a different type of guitar playing.”

Now, Premium Rat is ready to translate the album’s tracks from the studio to the stage during a January 24 release show at The Freighthouse in Ypsilanti.

Rey is performing as a quintet with Osprey (bass), Kim (drums), Erica Mooney (keys, piano, synth), and Lior (electric violin). The show also includes sets from Carmel Liburdi and Pet Me.

“We are playing the album from front to back. It means so much to me as a complete work, and I want to present it that way at the release show. Premium Rat, for me, is a political project, and it’s also a community project,” Rey said.

“I wanted the release show to not just be a regular show … so I have some local artists, and they’re going to be selling their art. I have a friend who’s bringing a bunch of zines, and I have a friend who’s doing Tarot readings.”

After the album release show, Premium Rat will perform February 13 for Trans Nite at The Regal Beagle in Ypsilanti. They’ll be sharing the stage with SMITE//CASTLE, Tooth, and Belial.

Rey also plans to work on a new album later this year.

“The next album I’m going to be making with my band, it’s going to be a different experience. We’re going to make it in a local studio with mostly live instruments,” they said. “It’s largely already written … and I have a bunch of songs and a concept for the second album.”

Lori Stratton is a library technician, writer for Pulp, and writer and editor of strattonsetlist.com.

Premium Rat performs January 24 with Carmel Liburdi and Pet Me at The Freighthouse, 100 Market Place, Ypsilanti. They also perform February 13 with SMITE//CASTLE, Tooth, and Belial for Trans Nite at The Regal Beagle, 817 East Michigan Avenue, Ypsilanti.