2023’s All Fiction was received as an album of quiet experimentation, a wander through fields of avant-garde curiosity where the musical exploration of Pile knew no bounds. Their last album to fall within the Bermuda Triangle balancing act of indie rock, noise and post-hardcore was 2019’s Green and Gray where Pile felt as complete as thought possible but now with Sunshine and Balance Beams we have what feels like a true sequel, one with all the spirit which makes them so revered by their peers and connoisseurs.
Rick Maguire and Co. leave a welcoming door ajar for the casual listener to embrace the learning curve of a band rarely appreciated by the mainstream, the vocals tip toe around the welcome mat of aggression before receding into melancholic territory on ‘An Opening’. Maguire flickers his heavenly drawl into falsetto before crashing into the cold reality of the tracks angular apparatus with drums beating their chest and whirring builds of intensity which pendulum swing us into the arms of the album. Although there is difficulty in assuming the ‘sound’ of Pile, tracks like ‘Made of Clay’ would be assembled if asked to create one from memory, as a torrent of drums from Kris Kuss are the foundation to which all good decorations are displayed as his performance is electric with a pulsating urgency which dictates mood and direction. It provides ample podium for the gravelly tone of Maguire which see-saws from calm narration to a bark which is guided by the unsettling tension of guitarist Matt Connery.
“If Pile are a Rubix Cube they are one move away from being truly appreciated as a rich entity of ideas where imitation is nigh on impossible”
The ambient pulse of ‘Bouncing in Blue’ feels like floating on your back in unknown waters completely void of pressure and expectation from where the waves may take you, emboldening the curiosity of where you may drift the next 5 and a half minutes. The hat Pile wears on the track is a delicate and honest one, its strings glisten as Maguire takes us through a somber monologue of “a balcony to bask in the glow and furnished with things I control” where Maguire muses on shedding the weight of certainty before the band joins in a torrent of noise which accelerates into fuzz and wail with grandiose flair before receding into static nausea.
Pile in 2025 are firmly rooted in a linear experience with no detours, just a sharpening of the storytelling anchored in reality, speaking new life into words which have been sung a million times by others. Their unique approach to simplicity never stays in one place for too long as we shift from the serene to the mildly untamed which operate in tandem to deliver ‘classic’ Pile but also unearth fertile soil to plant a new extension of their fascinating identity. Sunshine and Balance Beams truly glow in the sections of quiet intimacy where Maguire is solemn in his delivery and the atmosphere is clearly identified with the subtle but powerful contributions from the band to signal the turning of the songs momentum. Album closer ‘Carrion Song’ is a string laden theatrical display to bookend the bands natural ability to shift between the dynamics masterfully conduct our emotions for the a satisfying curtain call.
If Pile are a Rubix Cube they are one move away from being truly appreciated as a rich entity of ideas where imitation is nigh on impossible. A 22 date UK/EU tour will soon be upon us this November so discover Pile at their most innovative and celebrate a band who have never deserved it more.
Sunshine and Balance Beams is out 15/8 via Sooper Records.