Photo by Ryan Lawson
Chat Pile‘s heralded debut album God’s Country depicted a particularly American flavor 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.”
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.
Pre-order Who Loves the Sun here ahead of its September 4 street date and catch Chat Pile on the road:
UK/EU
Aug 11 Vienna, AT — Arena
Aug 12 Munich, DE — Live/Evil ^
Aug 14 Col Du Lein, CH — Palp Festival
Aug 19 Dublin, IRE — Button Factory ^
Aug 20 Dublin, IRE — Button Factory ^
Aug 22 Bristol, UK — Arctangent Festival
USA
Sep 12 Oklahoma City, OK – Tower Theatre (SISU Fundraiser Fest) #
Sep 17 Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue + $
Sep 19 Chicago, IL — Riot Fest
Sep 20 Englewood, CO – The Gothic Theatre + &
Sep 23 Salt Lake City, UT – The Metro Music Hall + &
Sep 25 Seattle, WA – Showbox SoDo + &
Sep 27 Portland, OR – Revolution Hall + &
Sep 29 Sacramento, CA – Ace of Spades + &
Sep 30 San Francisco, CA – The Regency Ballroom + &
Oct 03 San Diego, CA – Music Box + &
Oct 04 Los Angeles, CA – The Belasco + &
Oct 06 Mesa, AZ – The Nile Theater + &
Oct 08 Austin, TX – Radio/East + &
Oct 09 Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall + &
Oct 10 Dallas, TX – Granada Theater + &
Nov 05 Detroit, MI – The Majestic Theatre + %
Nov 06 Millvale, PA – Mr. Smalls Theatre + %
Nov 08 Norwalk, CT – District Music Hall + %
Nov 10 Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Steel + %
Nov 11 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer + %
Nov 12 Washington, DC – Black Cat + %
Nov 14 Charlotte, NC – Underground + %
Nov 15 Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade + %
Nov 16 Nashville, TN – Brooklyn Bowl + %
Nov 18 Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall + %
Nov 20 Indianapolis, IN – Deluxe at Old National Centre + %
Nov 21 St. Louis, MO – Delmar Hall + %
Nov 22 Lawrence, KS – The Granada + %
Dec 13 Boston, MA – Roadrunner (Saddest Day Festival)
^ with Ragana
+ with Soul Glo
$ with Prize Horse
& with Virga
% with Shallowater
# with Portrayal of Guilt, Nightosphere, Traindodge, Primal Brain
