The 2012 Valentine's Day debut "KIN" from Michael Rank and Stag was given a kind reception: "KIN's locked up a slot on my No Depression Best of 2012 list...Highly recommended", No Depression... "On what is a set of wonderfully ramshackle country leaning rock songs...wonderful stuff. This is not an album for anyone who wants to hear polished and tidy country rock. To his and the musicians’ credit they deliver in spades with what is one of the most invigorating albums we’ve heard this year", Blabber 'n Smoke... "With more vital body fluids spilling from these grooves than Shoot Out the Lights and Blood on the Tracks combined, the new solo album from Snatches of Pink frontman Michael Rank makes for an exhausting ride. It's closer to watching a tragedy unfold onscreen than listening to a rock album. As classic breakup albums go, Kin is more than just effective - it's utterly inspiring", Blurt Magazine... "Some people epitomise rock and roll. Everything they do, say, the way they dress communicates, signifies rock and roll. Rank is such a person. His rock and roll attitude permeates every part of these recordings. Fittingly, this is a double album. Fourteen examples of what you get if you immerse yourself in the vinegar and spice of rock mythology. It is the epitome of what Americana meant fifteen years ago. Rank, like any unreconstructed rock and roller, makes everything seem so damn exciting that it draws you in triggering all of those memories and connections and easily accessing the pleasure centers", Americana UK... "If there’s a secret to making timeless roots rock records then Michael Rank has discovered the formula...a timeless piece of ragged unapologetic acoustic based rock n roll that pays homage to past without being constrained by it", Beat Surrender... " The songs bleed with bitterness over the end of a relationship, again the stuff of great country rock. There is an immediacy to the writing and playing here that serves the songs well - it just spills out on the floor and grabs you by the collar demanding that you listen. Rank has a great feel for the swagger and grease of the best rock'n'roll and it's all here.", When You Motor Away... "Remember when artists would work through all their physical, emotional and spiritual baggage by channeling all that pain into a bunch of songs that eventually reveal themselves to cohese into an epic body of work? Barely, right? This is totally that. It will leave a mark. Or two. But it is so, so, so good. Musically and lyrically raw. And real. And intense. And cathartic. And beautiful.", Graypunk... "Kin is Rank’s 'Wild Horses' ", Hopscotch Festival preview... Enter 2013's Valentine's offering, "In The Weeds".