Pile
Hot Air Balloon
EXPLODING IN SOUND
Over 15 years ago, Rick Maguire originated Pile as a one-man affair in which he self-released intimate acoustic songs that could’ve passed as bedroom recordings. The Bostonian maintained that model until he hired a handful of cohorts who helped him pivot Pile into a rousing post-hardcore band. Subsequent years found the group gradually toning down their noisy antics, album by album, culminating in last year’s wicked quiet All Fiction.
But just when we thought Pile couldn’t get any gentler, here comes the group’s Hot Air Balloon EP, a release so quiet it could be played as background music at a monastery without ruffling any robes. Oftentimes, a band chases a well-received LP with an EP in an attempt to draft off of the momentum set in motion by the former. In those cases, the short-player tends to sound similar to, if not exactly like, its predecessor. Those EPs usually contain material that a band decided to leave on the cutting room floor due to its inferior quality. A band can get away with releasing subpar songs because they’ve already captivated the listener. The same phenomenon occurs among movie nerds who gobble up outtakes—they don’t want their entertainment experience to end.
In the case of Pile, Maguire—along with percussionist Kris Kuss, keyboardist/bassist Alex Molini, and engineer Kevin McMahon—took a totally different tack with the follow-up to All Fiction. Not only did they wait nearly a full year to release Hot Air Balloon, they also assembled the new release sans the extensive string section that accompanied the band on All Fiction. Consequently, Pile succeeded in pulling off their magic trick, getting quieter than ever before. Anyone mystified by the recently chic term “slowcore” will get the gist of it within seconds of hearing the EP.
Since a band can only get so quiet before their music evaporates into the ether, the secret sauce that Pile used for this EP is its undeniably effective sound production. McMahon, who also helped produce the far crisper All Fiction, seems to have blanketed the recording location with cotton this time around. From start to finish, Hot Air Balloon exudes a cozy feel that downplays the mechanics of Pile’s songs in favor of a comfortable, even homespun-sounding, experience.
Pile appears to have made some sacrifices to achieve that level of warmth. While touted as a more experimental excursion for the group, the intricacies in every song on Hot Air Balloon are barely noticeable, like an expertly sanded piece of wood expunged of its sharp edges. “The Birds Attacked My Hot Air Balloon” in particular requires a straining of the ears to listen through its muffled sound. In the end, though, the hushed approach that Pile took with this brief outing showcases their most unassuming, and thus endearing, musical abilities.
