Chat Pile’s heralded debut album God’s Country depicted a particularly American flavour of dread, and their 2024 LP Cool World showed a cruel planet defined by global systemic violence. Now, Chat Pile return with Who Loves the Sun, an album that peels back the skin on how a collective indifference for a decaying world defines this new century.
Spanning imagery of coastlines devouring cities as a result of inaction on climate change, the dread of working dead-end jobs, and the species’ collective submission to data-driven inauthenticity, Who Loves the Sun depicts the common experience of existing in a doom loop which feeds the malaise that permeates all aspects of our lives.
The album”s latest single ‘Same Rules’ is lyrically and sonically as aggressive and confrontational as ever, but Chat Pile approach songwriting with hooks in mind, drawing on melodic tones. Bassist Stin says it’s the “…first real Chat Pile song mostly recorded on 4-track cassette. Ray B. had given us the challenge to write a trip hop song and this is what we came up with. Unfortunately he’s rejected ‘Same Rules’ from the challenge as he claims it’s not trip hop at all and that we have to try again. Perhaps we’ll get it right next time.”
Reaching into the collective consciousness to commiserate and carouse, Chat Pile dissect how the apathy-bloated state of 21st-century existence is an active, slow-motion apocalypse, threads of which are woven through the album. Vocalist Ray B. adds: “Everyone needs to read as much as possible. There is so little emphasis put on knowledge right now— it is your most important tool. Engagement with the world might lead to death, but shutting off and staring at your phone all day is suicide.”
AA
Since Chat Pile’s formation just over six years ago, the Oklahoma City-based quartet has grown from a scrappy passion project of four local film and music enthusiasts into one of the defining heavy acts to emerge from the 2020s underground.
Ray B. (vocals), L. Manhole (guitar), Stin (bass), and Cap’n Ron (drums)’s crushing, crass, and cathartic take on noise rock resonates in a cracked reality. Their music captures a raw, undeniably human essence that’s increasingly fleeting in an age marked by ceaseless torrents of algorithmic slop, technological overreach, and the cold, crestfallen state of society. Nothing about their forthcoming third LP, Who Loves the Sun, feels synthetic. In a world increasingly shaped by disposable content, Chat Pile answers with something defiantly real and organic.
Live dates:
UK/EU
08/11 – Vienna, AT – Arena (supporting HEALTH and Carpenter Brut)
08/12 – Munich, DE – Live/Evil ~
08/14 – Col Du Lein, CH – Palp Festival
08/17 – London, UK – Bush Hall ~ SOLD OUT
08/19 – Dublin, IRE – Button Factory ~ SOLD OUT
08/20 – Dublin, IRE – Button Factory ~ SOLD OUT
08/22 – Bristol, UK – Arctangent Festival
08/23 – Hasselt, BE – Pukkelpop Festival
NA
09/12 – Oklahoma City, OK – Tower Theatre = (SISU Fundraiser Fest)
09/17 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue +^
09/19 – Chicago, IL – Riot Fest
09/20 – Englewood, CO – The Gothic Theatre +&
09/23 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Metro Music Hall + &
09/25 – Seattle, WA – Showbox SoDo + &
09/27 – Portland, OR – Revolution Hall + &
09/29 – Sacramento, CA – Ace of Spades +
09/30 – San Francisco, CA – The Regency Ballroom + &
10/03 – San Diego, CA – Music Box + &
10/04 – Los Angeles, CA – The Belasco + &
10/06 – Mesa, AZ – The Nile Theater + &
10/08 – Austin, TX – Radio/East + &
10/09 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall + &
10/10 – Dallas, TX – Granada Theater + &
11/05 – Detroit, MI – The Majestic Theatre + %
11/06 – Millvale, PA – Mr. Smalls Theatre + %
11/08 – Norwalk, CT – District Music Hall + %
11/10 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Steel + %
11/11 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer + %
11/12 – Washington, DC – Black Cat + %
11/14 – Charlotte, NC – Underground + %
11/15 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade + %
11/16 – Nashville, TN – Brooklyn Bowl + %
11/18 – Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall + %
11/20 – Indianapolis, IN – Deluxe at Old National Centre + %
11/21 – St. Louis, MO – Delmar Hall + %
11/22 – Lawrence, KS – The Granada + %
~ with Ragana
+ with Soul Glo
^ with Prize Horse
& with Virga
% with Shallowater
= with Portrayal of Guilt, Nightosphere, Traindodge, Primal Brain
Photo credit: Ryan Lawson
Aural Aggravation 