Pile - All Fiction
“a surprisingly detailed and evocative world, just beyond the limits of rock” – Pitchfork (7.2)
“Rick Maguire’s celebrated, amorphous underground rock project continues to evade easy categorization on their new album All Fiction.” – The FADER
“an impressive record” – NPR
“Pile are at an all-time high here, even though they’ve opted to not arrive so loud.” – Paste Magazine
“All Fiction is the mark of a new era for Pile. It’s one that might take some listeners time to get used to, but it’s an altogether richer and more mature sound that opens new avenues of sound for the band going forward. The future is as unpredictable as ever for Pile, but whatever comes next is sure to shake up expectations.” – Exclaim! (8)
“Just a week out from dropping their latest album, All Fiction, Pile have seen fit to share yet another genre-fusing tune, “Lowered Rainbow.” The track features skittering, irregular drum grooves, arpeggiated synth chords, and highly-affected vocals, fostering a somewhat eerie yet relaxed vibe. Over it all, Rick Maguire manages to fit in a melodic, entrancing lead vocal, offering a glimpse of humanity and light within the song’s otherwise cold and calculated sound palette. It comes together beautifully, only increasing the anticipation for the release of All Fiction.” – Consequence
“Blending a psychedelic instrumental with some dark lyricism that raises the tension of the track, even the band members felt it differed from their previous releases. It also has some incredibly abstract sketched-out visuals that match the song’s vibe.” – Uproxx
“finds them exploring atmospheric, psychedelic territory” – Brooklyn Vegan
“Pile has earned their standing as cult favorites through relentless touring and their commitment to their DIY ethos. Their unwillingness to resort to cheap pop gestures stands out in an era where few acts even bother to cloak their crass commercialism. But above all stands the music, and All Fiction—the title of which is a reference to our culture’s increasingly fractured ideas of what constitutes truth—marks yet another extraordinary entry in the band’s discography” – Slant Magazine
“Maguire has made the most expansive and sonically textured album of the project’s entire run” – Bandcamp Daily
From their earliest days as the solo project of frontman Rick Maguire, Pile have followed an unusual path through a decade in which rock bands have generally receded from the cultural spotlight. Starting out in 2007, in the then thriving Boston DIY scene, the band rapidly became heroes and standard-bearers for their hometown’s music community, garnering a cultish-adoration that has only intensified as that cult has grown, expanding by word of mouth across the country and throughout the globe. For fifteen years, Pile’s evolving take on rock has earned the group one oft-repeated superlative: “your favorite band’s favorite band.” Ceaseless touring took its members from Boston’s basement circuit to international festivals, hitting loftier technical apexes with each new record. All Fiction, the band’s eighth record, finds the ambitious group assembling its most texturally complex material yet.