Oklahoma noise-rock band Chat Pile have returned with a new album, Who Loves the Sun, and a striking lead single video that plunges viewers into a eerie barbershop scene. The release and the accompanying visuals sharpen the group’s long-standing focus on contemporary anxieties—making this moment more than just a new record drop.
The LP follows 2024’s Cool World and last year’s unexpected collaboration with Hayden Pedigo, In the Earth Again. The title is a nod to a Velvet Underground song from 1970, though the band says the reference is more playful than philosophical.
Opening the record, the video for the single “Deep Blue” pairs the group’s abrasive sound with unsettling imagery: a small barbershop populated by strange, theatrical actions that undercut any sense of normalcy. The clip amplifies the album’s themes without spelling them out.
Vocalist and songwriter Ray B. frames the new record as a reaction to wider social and technological pressures. He cites concerns ranging from artificial intelligence and climate change to concentrated wealth and mass violence, describing the album as a way to work through those frustrations. The band also pushed its arrangements farther on this record, experimenting with layered vocal harmonies and denser production.
Stin, the group’s bassist, says the album wrestles with the difficulty of preserving empathy in what he describes as a dehumanizing era. He sees the single as setting the sonic tone for the whole collection, likening its dramatic feel to a classic rock sensibility filtered through Chat Pile’s abrasive approach.
For listeners, the record offers moments of raw intensity alongside unexpectedly melodic passages, a deliberate contrast that keeps the band’s noise-rock foundation intact while stretching its textures.
- Who Loves the Sun — full 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
The band is currently touring Australia and New Zealand and has announced an extended North American run later this year, including festivals and headline dates. That schedule underlines the group’s leap from underground fixtures to a broader live profile.
- Selected upcoming dates:
- 06-11 Sydney — Manning Bar
- 06-13 Hobart — Dark Mofo
- 08-08 Katowice, Poland — OFF Festival
- 09-19 Chicago — Riot Fest
- 09-30 San Francisco — The Regency Ballroom
- 11-10 Brooklyn — Brooklyn Steel
Where relevant, the band will bring different support acts on select legs of the tour. Fans who follow live-heavy bands should note the heavy festival calendar late summer into fall—the group is positioning this album around high-profile festival appearances and a string of U.S. headline dates.
The new video for “Deep Blue” is online now, and the album is available through the band’s usual outlets. For listeners tracking how contemporary concerns are translating into music, Chat Pile’s latest is an explicit, sometimes stark portrait of that conversation.
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Hello, I’m Atlas. I explore the latest musical releases for you and guide you to your next sonic favorites.