A minute into Balancing Act, Idle Pilot suddenly pick up the pace from the slow and gloomy opening riff of “Trash Baby” and launch into faster, heavier territory without warning. This moment sets the tone for the Boston “noisey post-whatever” band’s newest album — out this Wednesday, September 9th — where the tracks rarely stay still for long and often move into unexpected new places on a moment’s notice. These shifts match Idle Pilot’s unique incorporation of several adjacent genres, such as post-punk, post-hardcore, and noise rock, into a distorted, sometimes sludgy, always heavy sound that’s all their own. To mark the release of Balancing Act, Allston Pudding is hosting an exclusive early premiere of the album.

Balancing Act is the band’s fourth full-length studio album, and Idle Pilot’s confidence and tightness as a three-piece shine through in each composition and in the flow of the record. This is clear from the album’s earliest stretches, as when the restrained, whispered chants of “Bored to Death” drop right into the high-energy screams and freneticism of lead single “Blind Initiation” without missing a beat. The varied approaches to each song yield for an intensely compelling listen, notably in the explicitly environmentalist-themed song “Solid Gold Pipeline” with its hook, “solid gold pipeline is pumping black goo into hearts, all for you.” Frontman and guitarist/bassist Alex Miller’s vocals play just as much of a role in texturing these songs as Mike Searcy’s knotty guitar/bass parts and Evan Lord’s complexly punchy drums. During pivotal moments of songs like “Blind Initiation” and “Errant Trees,” Miller’s repeated yells tear through the tracks with ferocity akin to distorted guitar stabs.

Through it all, Idle Pilot’s songs are never static and often wind through many different yet cohesive sections over the course of each track. “Blind Initiation” takes a similar shape to “Trash Baby” by building space for a subdued math rock passage midway through the song before ripping back into its noisier mode for a climactic finish. “Bangers Only” opens with a bouncy set of verses and a jagged stop-and-go riff before its anxieties settle into a slower stomp that continually grows louder through the song’s end. The mid-tempo moodiness of “Canvas Contrast” finds unexpected interruption in a breakdown full of lightning-fast erratic guitars and drums. This unpredictability carries through the record to its very end, where closer “Errant Trees” finds its established chord progression gradually swell to a final piercing scream that closes the album. This perpetual versatility is a dynamic that the band makes all their own, a push-and-pull that makes Balancing Act more than worthy of its title.

Of special note is that 100% of the purchases of this album through the end of September will be going to the local organization Violence In Boston. Founded by Monica Cannon-Grant, the organization highlights disparities around violence in communities of color, and its mission is to “to improve the quality of life & life outcomes of individuals from disenfranchised communities by reducing the prevalence of violence and the impact of associated trauma.” Buy Balancing Act through its streaming link below to donate to Violence In Boston.