Hey look, it’s Chat Pile! Our fucking guys! The Oklahoma City noise-rock people’s champs have been working extremely hard since they came to national prominence mid-pandemic, averaging about an album a year. Last year, Chat Pile teamed up with Hayden Pedigo for In The Earth Again, a sonic departure that showed new sides of the band. Earlier this year, they dropped their anti-ICE song “Masks,” as well as a cover of Nirvana’s “Sifting,” on a Sub Pop single. Now, they’re getting ready to drop a new album of their own.
This summer, Chap Pile will release Who Loves The Sun, the proper follow-up to 2024’s Cool World. Once again, the band recorded the album themselves, with bassist Stin singled out for his work. Once again, it’s coming out on the Flenser. Once again, they’ve got cover art that shows a significant symbol of decay in their Oklahoma City hometown as the cover art — in this case, the largely vacant skyscraper known as Devon Tower. This time around, the only guests are Nightosphere’s Claire Hannah and Brittany Sawtelle, who have additional vocals on two songs.
Chat Pile’s frontman isn’t going by the elite-level punk name Raygun Busch anymore. Now, he’s known as Ray B. But guess what? That’s also a great punk name. Here’s what he says about the new album:
This record focuses on my grievances with the modern world. AI, genocide, climate change, the power elite, $$$$ hoarding pigs— all that shit fucks up your life and mine. The band is definitely stretching out their abilities on the album, and I too felt inspired to go further— as a huge fan of Boston, I like to think Brad Delp is somewhere up there, smiling down, as I take the layering to new heights, but who can say? We have fun with it.
And here’s what bassist Stin says:
This album contains a healthy dose of the usual Chat Pile airing of grievances against the state of the world, but deeper at it’s heart I feel Who Loves The Sun is grappling with the challenges of trying to keep one’s humanity in a time of extreme anti-humanity.
Speaking of anti-humanity! Lead single “Deep Blue” is a scrawled lament about moving “deeper into screens” and putting on a false and presentable facade, a “mask… even though you know the clock is ticking down.” It fits right in with the band’s past work, but it expands on the queasy melodic sensibility that they’ve been developing gradually. In the press release, Ray says, “Technology is rapidly ruining our lives, all promise seemingly squandered on the worst things, like killing people, wasting resources, destroying art — shrinking our brains and pulling us further apart than ever before.” Here’s another Stin quote:
This is the first track we wrote for the album and the one that helped set the tone for the whole thing. I personally love this because it sounds like Chat Pile doing a Billy Squire song. It’s our “Lonely Is The Night,” which is actually a fake Led Zeppelin song, so who knows what the hell we’re actually doing here?
Later this summer, Chat Pile will tour Australia and New Zealand, and they they’ll hit Europe with Ragana. After that, they’ll embark on a North American tour with Soul Glo. At various points, they’ll be joined by bands like Prize Horse, Shallowater, and Virga. They’ll also play a special Oklahoma City benefit show with Portrayal Of Guilt, Nightosphere, Traindodge, and Primal Brain. Below, check out the Stephen Mondics-directed “Deep Blue” video, as well as the Who Loves The Sun tracklist and Chat Pile’s tour dates.
TRACKLIST:
01 “Creature”
02 “Deep Blue”
03 “Same Rules”
04 “PEN I S MALL”
05 “Shrine”
06 “Intruder”
07 “Christabel ’26”
08 “Influence”
09 “Family Funeral”
10 “October All The Time”
TOUR DATES:
6/11 – Sydney, Australia @ Manning Bar
6/12 – Melbourne, Australia @ Max Watts
6/13 – Hobart, Australia @ Dark Mofo
6/14 – Brisbane, Australia @ The Triffid
6/16 – Adelaide, Australia @ Lion Arts Factory
6/18 – Auckland, New Zealand @ Tuning Fork
6/19 – Wellington, New Zealand @ San Fran
8/06 – Ancora, Portugal @ Sonic Blast
8/08 – Katowice, Poland @ OFF Festival
8/09 – Prague, Czech Republic @ Fuchs2 ^
8/10 – Budapest, Hungary @ A38 ^
8/11 – Vienna, Austria @ Arena
8/12 – Munich, Germany @ Live/Evil ^
8/14 – Col Du Lein, Switzerland @ Palp Festival
8/19 – Dublin, Ireland @ Button Factory ^
8/20 – Dublin, Ireland @ Button Factory ^
8/22 – Bristol, UK @ Arctangent Festival
9/12 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Tower Theatre (SISU Fundraiser Fest) #
9/17 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue + $
9/19 – Chicago, IL @ Riot Fest
9/20 – Englewood, CO @ The Gothic Theatre + &
9/23 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Metro Music Hall + &
9/25 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo + &
9/27 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall + &
9/29 – Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades + &
9/30 – 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
Who Loves The Sun is out 9/4 on the Flenser. Pre-order it here.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source stereogum.com ’
