Pile have never quite released the same album twice, yet remain almost impossibly consistent. The ability to constantly change and progress their sound while still remaining unequivocally true to themselves is a testament to the strength of their songwriting and their collective performances. Even as the pieces change and the puzzle rearranges, the quality and vision remains intact. All Fiction may just be their biggest leap into new territory thus far, and yet it feels like the Pile we’ve always loved.
They’ve changed focus, moving away from the “traditional rock band” attack into a world more expansive, filled with strings, synths, and studio experiments, but their sense for fractured rhythms and sprinkled melodies feels familiar. With songs both urgent and textural, Pile have developed an album that really demands to be heard in full, transitioning from one movement to the next. While songs like “Loops” blast with Kris Kuss’ near melodic percussion and synths that creep, crawl, setting a shadowy tension, there’s still strength in disorienting guitars and warped hooks. There are times throughout the album that feel as though your brain is being restructured, where ideas and thoughts you once knew and had feel like they’ve been rearranged. All Fiction is the sound of the band evolving, with segments both familiar and those that welcome us to new exploratory territory. “Poisons” is a shining example of both. It rips like a classic Pile song, but the path feels triumphantly discombobulated and detached. Not everything is what it would seem.
All Fiction is a labor of love, it’s the sound of a band taking the time to figure out what motivates and challenges them, an album that rejuvenates both their interest and expands our perception of their music. “Nude With A Suitcase” is perception unglued. Pile brings us deep into the synth heavy world of the record, wrapping itself in contorted vocal samples and whirring soundscapes to create a surrealism that feels both claustrophobic at times and brilliantly vast at others. Pile manipulate new sounds without losing touch of Rick Maguire’s signature songwriting touchstones. The trio still offer a rollercoaster of dynamic shifts, gut wrenching melodies, and layered rhythms, but it feels naturally engrained in their alien atmosphere, like a warning of danger or maybe a feeling of unease upon entering a strange new world beyond.
All Fiction moves away from brutality into something more amorphous. It’s not quite that they’ve gone soft, there’s an undeniable heaviness and tension lurking beneath the surface, but the aggression has transferred itself into layers of motion, the sound of synths and samples working in harmony with the low hum of ominous bass and the ever magnificent shuffle of Kuss’ cascading drums. The entire construction is with intention, designed in a way that will feel at its core, but surreal on surface level. As melodies waver and tension mounts, the lingering unease is met with lush keys, Maguire’s warm vocals, and a release that presents itself almost in non-linear fashion.