by Dominic Acito (@mycamgrlromance)
Pile have spent much of the last three years looking back. In 2020, they celebrated the 10-year anniversary of Magic Isn't Real by reuniting the original lineup and performing the entire album on a live stream. As the stresses of Covid began to lift in 2021, Rick Maguire embarked on a solo tour that reexamined much of the Pile back catalog. This tour featured older songs artfully rearranged for a solo performance. The new arrangements were recorded and released on the album Songs Known Together, Alone. In 2022, Pile marked another 10-year-anniversary - this time for the critically acclaimed album Dripping - with a handful of shows with the same lineup from the original release of that album.
During Pile’s time of publicly revisiting previous material, Rick had been preparing new music that would prove to stand apart from their original sound. Pile fans may recall that in 2020, Pile released a cassette-only recording of "Second Other Tape," where Maguire experimented with new instrumentation, allowing the guitar to take a back seat to organs. Additionally, he hinted that he wanted to do an album that strayed from Pile's previous work in a way that would highlight a shift in their work. So, the next release, In The Corners of a Sphere-Filled Room, was free to explore improvisational pieces with tape loops and sampling – an album they described as having “no songs”.
The production of All Fiction began in 2019, and the songs benefit from their long germination. Alex Molini, a later addition to Pile (having joined in 2018) and an experienced producer, along with band leader Rick Maguire began to demo the album prior to the pandemic - producing multiple versions of some songs and ultimately creating fifteen songs. Ten of these songs made it to All Fiction. It's a delicate balance to advance your sound and to still retain your distinct style. All Fiction is an ode to Pile's unique sound and ability to shift musically while still allowing their style to shine through. It's unmistakably a Pile album. It's got the unique time signatures, the unusual chord progressions, and even Maguire’s remarkable "woo". The way this latest release stands apart is likely the result of rebalancing new instrumentation reminiscent more of their Radiohead/Beatles influences than their Jesus Lizard/noise rock influences.
All Fiction is not without its share of energetic punk songs. Songs like "Loops," "Poisons," and "Gardening Hours" serve as the loudest and fastest songs. Listening to All Fiction front to back, we are treated to an album of songs that tend to deviate from the typical rock band format. The energy of the album ebbs and flows, increasing the impact of the more energy-intense tracks. The guitar is not used as the centerpiece of songs, but its intensity is made all the more real when it does appear. Songs like "Link Arms" start with drums and synths and end with distorted guitars punctuating the track's heavier crescendo. With the guitar sidelined on many tracks, other instruments take center stage like the string quartet on the song "Forgetting" and Kris Kuss' outstanding percussion work on "Lowered Rainbow". The latter is a heavy song that begins with a Beatles-like reversed organ and gains a unique space among Pile's music with its heavy synth sound and thumping rhythm. The song "Blood" features guitar at its heart but the most memorable piece of it is the vocal harmonies reminiscent of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ Skeleton Tree. It's clear that All Fiction inspirations are varied and complex.
Lyrically this release is a departure from Pile's last full-length, Green and Grey, where lyrics intentionally left little room for ambiguity and people are even name checked. From the words to the album art, the theme of All Fiction borders on, then crosses into, the surreal. With "Nude with a Suitcase," a nod to the now famous, (formerly infamous) surrealist painting "Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2" by Marcel Duchamp - songwriter Rick Maguire has said that this is perhaps his favorite song he's ever written. He admits that the lyrics "...mean something to me, I don't know if I could plainly or coherently articulate what it is."
It's clear that Pile plumbed deep wells of inspiration and experimentation for All Fiction. The resulting art is a rich, deep album that rewards repeated and attentive listens with new favorite details that heighten the sound experience.