Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Holds

Pile - Sunshine and Balance Beams (2025) ****

Nominated by: Alex

Music club: MNAC

MNAC playlist addition:  Uneasy

If there was an ever an album that grew on me with repeated listens, this is it. It has been a three week process - mainly because life got hectic (my fellow MNAC members will relate) and I had to keep listening in snatches. 

For a start I was in the meh camp. The lead guy's yelly vocals doing kind of tourettes moves at odd times didn't draw me in necessarily, but after a while (plays 3 to 4) I started to ignore it and the cranked up noise started to get me.

After plays 5 and 6 I started to hear fragments of lyrics that I started looking forward to and low and behold - plays 7 and 8 grabbed me by the lapels, threw me up against the wall and I yelled back - Waaaaaauuuuuuuuuggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

The choice of a highlighted song even became difficult. I kept swinging between the noisy ones and the quieter ones. Eventually settled on Uneasy but I loved Holds as well. Born at Night also came close - I like a good venting.

Great stuff Alex. I'd never heard of Pile but they ended up an exciting new discovery.