Pile was initially the solo project of Boston-based singer/guitarist Rick Maguire. He issued a pair of rough but engaging lo-fi albums (2007's Demonstration and 2009's Jerk Routine) that segued between experimental folk, jagged indie rock, and elements of post-rock. Transforming Pile into a collective, Maguire assembled the full-time lineup of guitarist Matt Becker, bassist Matt Connery, and drummer Kris Kuss in 2010 and released Magic Isn't Real, establishing the dark and noisy tones that would become one of the group's hallmarks. Following a 2011 EP titled Big Web, Pile signed with Exploding in Sound and made their label debut with 2012's widely touted Dripping. The 7" release Special Snowflakes/Mama's Lipstick preceded 2015's You're Better Than This as the band continued a daunting touring schedule, hitting North America and Europe. With each release, Pile's sound continued to evolve, adding piano, banjo, and strings on 2017's A Hairshirt of Purpose, which ran the gamut from slow, orchestrated tracks to massive noisy assaults. Jack White's Third Man label issued Pile's first live album, Live at Third Man Records, in late 2017. Between albums, the band collected singles and other miscellaneous tracks on the appropriately titled 2018 collection Odds and Ends before returning with seventh studio album Green and Gray in the spring of 2019. By this point Maguire had moved from Boston to Nashville and enlisted new member Chappy Hull (guitar) and Alex Molini (bass) to join him.
After releasing 2020's Second Other Tape, a set of experimental sketches, Maguire began revisiting Pile's earlier catalog and approaching it from a new angle. Recorded entirely on his own over the course of a three-day session, 2021's Songs Known Together, Alone, consisted of 16 reworked compositions that went as far back as 2007's Demonstration. It was followed later that year by the fully improvised In the Corners of a Sphere-Filled Room which, like its predecessor was self-released. 2023's All Fiction marked Pile's return to longtime label Exploding in Sound and was seen as a proper follow up to Green and Gray. Kuss, still living in Boston, rejoined the band for these sessions, which featured a more textured and complex sound.
Biography by Timothy Monger
There are other artists with the same name:
2.) Pile is a Japanese Singer and Seiyuu, Her real name is Hori Eriko (堀絵梨子) and she was born in 1988. She released a indies solo single in 2007 called "Your is All... " but didn't make a major solo debut until 2014 with the single "伝説のFLARE", which was used as the third ending song for the anime "Tenkai Knight".
3.) Tech house duo consisting of Markus Nikolai and Thomas Franzmann, founders of the Perlon label. Mainly active in the late 1990s, Pile produced a handful of tracks, first on the Epic label and finally on Perlon. Their unique style blended irregular, stripped-down house beats and distorted techno melodies with unorthodox vocal samples and characterized the early tech house sound. The group is no longer active, but Nikolai and Franzmann continue to work under different aliases.
Milkshake
Pile Lyrics
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That drops off about a mile
Your heart still beats
But real slow
The throat starts to shrink
Every sense is leaving
And it never crosses your mind
You lay down and try to rest
Try to breathe deep with that foot on your chest
An old light threatens through the blinds
The song "Milkshake" by Pile is about someone who is lying on a curb that drops off about a mile. The person's heart is still beating, but very slow. The person is experiencing the sensation of their throat starting to shrink and all their senses leaving their body. Even though the person is aware that they are dying, they don't think to close their eyes. The topic of death is very prevalent in these lyrics, as the listener can sense that the person is aware that their time is up, and there is nothing they can do to prevent it. The lyrics offer a dark and bleak outlook on death, as it describes a person lying on the curb, with no assistance or help, slowly dying.
The phrase "An old light threatens through the blinds" gives a sense of foreboding and perhaps implies that the person knows their time is up. The line paints a picture of an old and haunted house, where the singer is lying in the worst possible place, waiting for death to arrive. The lyrics also convey a sense of loneliness and despair. The combination of the stark, bare narration with the use of metaphorical language makes this song a haunting examination of the human mortality, a powerful and thought-provoking exploration of one of life's greatest mysteries.
Line by Line Meaning
Laying on the curb
Lying down on the street pavement
That drops off about a mile
The street pavement is elevated from the ground level by approximately a mile
Your heart still beats
Your heart is still pumping blood
But real slow
Its pumping frequency is quite low
The throat starts to shrink
The sensation of suffocation builds up
Every sense is leaving
You are losing the ability to feel, see, hear, smell, and taste
And it never crosses your mind
You don't think about
To close your eyes
Closing your eyelids to rest
You lay down and try to rest
You lie down and attempt to sleep
Try to breathe deep with that foot on your chest
You struggle to inhale air despite feeling a heavy weight on your chest
An old light threatens through the blinds
A dim and old illumination sneaks in through the window shutters
Contributed by Nathaniel R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.