Pileup
Portland, OR
Pileup is a five-piece band from Portland, Oregon who play down-tempo, contemplative rock music that hints at 90’s and early 2000’s indie, slowcore, and shoegaze inspirations, pairing sparse lyricism with lush and dynamic instrumental arrangements.
Guitarist and lyricist Nathan Urbach began playing shows up and down the west coast under the Pileup moniker in the winter of 2018, with an expanding, contracting, and rotating cast of contributors. The group released their first recorded music directly before the pandemic, and spent the lockdown period of 2020-2021 creating their debut LP "Creature." That first album was released in October 2022 by Emmet Martin’s beloved DIY Portland label Bud Tapes, and a more permanent lineup was established, with lead guitarist Elian Conroy (Alien Boy, Canary Room), bassist Gray Hunter (Bug Séance), drummer Kyle Rosse (Smiling Strange, Yellow Room), keyboardist Jordan Krinsky (How Strange It Is, Yellow Room, Nothings), and rhythm guitarist Isabel Zacharias (Babytooth). The band spent the following two years touring "Creature" and writing new songs that would eventually coalesce into their upcoming sophomore LP, "Leave The Light On."
After Isabel departed from Portland to pursue graduate school, the remaining five members finished writing their second album. In February 2025, they traveled to Anacortes, Washington where they spent just over a week at The Unknown, a storied old church-turned-recording-studio, working with studio founder and lead engineer Nicholas Wilbur (New Issue, Mount Eerie) to capture the ten songs that would comprise "Leave The Light On." The band slept, cooked, arranged, and tracked all within the same space, living entirely inside the environment of the record for the duration of their time there.
"Leave The Light On" will be released on February 24th via a collaboration between Portland-based label Pleasure Tapes Ltd. and Chicago-based label Flesh & Bone Records.
Guitarist and lyricist Nathan Urbach began playing shows up and down the west coast under the Pileup moniker in the winter of 2018, with an expanding, contracting, and rotating cast of contributors. The group released their first recorded music directly before the pandemic, and spent the lockdown period of 2020-2021 creating their debut LP "Creature." That first album was released in October 2022 by Emmet Martin’s beloved DIY Portland label Bud Tapes, and a more permanent lineup was established, with lead guitarist Elian Conroy (Alien Boy, Canary Room), bassist Gray Hunter (Bug Séance), drummer Kyle Rosse (Smiling Strange, Yellow Room), keyboardist Jordan Krinsky (How Strange It Is, Yellow Room, Nothings), and rhythm guitarist Isabel Zacharias (Babytooth). The band spent the following two years touring "Creature" and writing new songs that would eventually coalesce into their upcoming sophomore LP, "Leave The Light On."
After Isabel departed from Portland to pursue graduate school, the remaining five members finished writing their second album. In February 2025, they traveled to Anacortes, Washington where they spent just over a week at The Unknown, a storied old church-turned-recording-studio, working with studio founder and lead engineer Nicholas Wilbur (New Issue, Mount Eerie) to capture the ten songs that would comprise "Leave The Light On." The band slept, cooked, arranged, and tracked all within the same space, living entirely inside the environment of the record for the duration of their time there.
"Leave The Light On" will be released on February 24th via a collaboration between Portland-based label Pleasure Tapes Ltd. and Chicago-based label Flesh & Bone Records.
