Album Review: A Hairshirt Of Purpose by Pile

Pile's new LP, A Hairshirt of Purpose, has a warmth to it that sets it apart from 2015's, You're Better Than This. Songs move slower, develop at their own pace, and leave space for Rick Maguire's incisive self-reflections and ruminations. His trademark songwriting style is still impossible to miss, however. His vocals slide off of, onto and around their expected resolutions; he stretches melodic phrases across the band's dexterous grooves against all expectation and jumps from a drawl to a falsetto without warning. Although there are the expected ferocious bangers to be found in "Hissing For Peace" or "Texas," the meat of this record is its gorgeous, winding ballads.

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It's impossible to talk about Pile without talking about their fans. With every album, the Boston rock band's ascent continues by word of mouth. And yet, Pile reside in a state of relative self-sabotage, as if to punish themselves for all of the adulation. The energy of their recorded material pales in comparison to that of their live shows, where their cult inducts new followers effortlessly.

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