Sunshine And Balance Beams - Pile: Review
Pile are a long-running, Boston-based indie rock band who have crossed over into other genres like post-punk throughout a pretty versatile career. I've touched on the band occasionally but never in a full review, something I knew I would have to amend after hearing the excellent trio of singles that preceded Sunshine And Balance Beams. Even though the full record wasn't quite everything I hoped it might be, it still sports some of the best songs of Pile's already long and storied career.
That trio of singles pops up in the record's middle section, and what a run it is. "Bouncing In Blue and "Uneasy" are a stunning back-to-back punch. "Blue" has a brooding and plodding introduction that contrasts wonderfully with the high register singing. Even though the composition wanders around a lot, it manages to keep up its momentum and pay everything off with a satisfying finale. "Uneasy" deploys one of many great lyrical moments on the album. A repeating hook declares, "If the bottom's already given out one, what's stopping it from giving out again?" But the way it's deployed throughout the song creates this deeply unsettling poise that I got addicted to as soon as I first heard it.
As good as those two are, the very best single might be "Born At Night." It starts off with a stunning open verse that transitions excellently into the chorus with this irresistible, thunderous momentum. The climactic finale it eventually arrives at is one of the best musical moments I've heard in all of 2025. The record's best deep cut is "Deep Clay." While we're on the subject of momentum, this song has a propulsive instrumental that leaps forward throughout the entire track. I love the way some of the refrains just taper off into moaning malaise and then sharply refocus for another very memorable hook.
That's not even the extent of the great songs in the album's mid-section. "A Loosened Knot" does feature some bizarre singing on its quieter parts, but it has an anxiety-inducing composition that sets up dramatic and explosive moments throughout. I also like "Holds" quite a bit, with the extra strings it deploys standing out as a pretty wonderful moment. My only complaint about the track is its meandering outro that saps more of the momentum than it really needs to.
As good as the middle of this album is, I think it gets off to a just okay start. The fittingly titled "An Opening" gets the record going, but without nearly as much of the instrumental intensity of the rest of the album. It mostly just feels like dipping your toes into what's coming in an ultimately unmemorable fashion. What's worse is the pair of songs that ends the album off. "Meanwhile Outside" is the longest track here, but I don't think the band does a great job optimizing that time. Sure there are individual moments I like, but the overall plodding directionlessness of the second half in particular is a drag. But it also doesn't get much better on the closer "Carrion Song," which guides the album to a gentler conclusion than I was anticipating. Even though it does eventually rev up a touch of energy, it's still cut off for an orchestral final moment that doesn't feel representative of the dark demeanor of the album throughout.
While Sunshine And Balance Beams doesn't quite live up to the staggering quality of its singles, it's still probably the best Pile album I've heard yet. Throughout a staggeringly consistent middle section, the band serves up one brooding, ominous, and impending post-punk jam after another to great results. From the idiosyncratic vocals to the variety of guitar tones, both searing and enveloping, Pile settles on a sound that gets better every time you hear it. 7.5/10
For more experimental rock, check out my review of Tropical Fuck Storm's Fairyland Codex
