Nude With A Suitcase is the peculiar and vibrant new single from Pile's upcoming album All Fiction, which will be released on February 17th, 2023 via Exploding In Sound. The imaginative group has assembled their most texturally challenging material to date for the impending full length.
“This might be my favorite song that I've written,” says the group's Rick Maguire. “Some songs feel maddeningly laborious to write, but this one was a pretty good time. I still pored over it and it took a while but I enjoyed the process. It started as an idea on an acoustic guitar and I ended up using a sample of my voice on a synthesizer for most of the song. The lyrics are kinda loose and abstract and while they mean something to me I don't know if I could plainly or coherently articulate what it is.”
For their new material, Pile have added somber strings, bewildering vocal abrasions, and unsettling synths to the scorching drums and smoldering riffs what have always composed the core of their sound.
“I’ve been trying to get out of what I think is ‘the rock band format,’ and I was also tired of what I saw as our identity as a band,” explains Maguire, mentioning inspiration from acts with a perpetually avantgardistic approach, like Mt. Eerie, Kate Bush and Aphex Twin. “The confusion about identity combined with existential anxiety led to exploring my imagination as a means of escape.”
The list of albums that impacted All Fiction is extensive, with Maguire citing works by Portishead, Broadcast, Penderecki and Tinariwen among them. He continues: “I’ve been more drawn to recordings where it’s difficult to identify what’s happening. I also wanted to use different instruments and recording techniques to highlight the songs, rather than creating the visual of a band performing them.”
Photo by Emme Rovins