It’s come up repeatedly, but Lane’s propensity for storytelling gives The Rat Utopia Experiment the wow factor that pulls people in. “Growing up, I didn’t care about music writing, but I really liked writing stories from a young age, like long stories,” Lane remembers. “I loved it. I mean, it makes sense looking back now that I ended up loving songwriting, ’cause all my songs are stories somehow. I love imagery and metaphors.”

Lane hopes the band’s audience can experience that narrative immersion. “I think a collective thing – I’m going to speak for everybody here, they might kill me later – is that we want to tell stories,” she confirms. “Whether the stories are political or not, we just want to give people the sense of connection and something they can relate to, and that’s also going to make them think about something maybe they didn’t realise before.” As they prepare their debut album with sharper songwriting, their unreleased songs are set to venture into more complicated, darker, and weirder territory. “We want people taking those emotions, and whatever else from those songs, and being able to use that platform to make change and inspire people.”

One case in point was when Lane met an avid fan from Boise, barely younger than her, after their striking show at Treefort Music Fest. “She was like, ‘Your band is my favourite band ever. I’ve cried listening to your music. I literally love your music so much. I discovered it when I was in a really bad place, and it’s helped me so much.’ I’ve never heard anybody say anything like that, and it was kind of shocking, you know?” Being starstruck can’t be faked, so receiving awe-inspiring responses like that, for Lane and her crew as they finally get off the ground, means they have to keep going. By providing a sense of purpose, they’re doing something right.

Lane adds, “What an honour that my writing, the lyrics I’ve written, were able to help somebody like that and connect with her. Now I’m actually doing something – I’m not just fucking around writing music and playing songs on stage – it’s really building an audience and connecting with people.” If continuing means creating more positive social change for her own and her peers’ future, they’re not going to slow down; this experiment has only just begun.