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Palehound – El Kempner on “Eye on the Bat”
Indoor Fireworks
Jul 14, 2023
Pictures by Shervin Lainez (for Underneath the Radar)
Internet Unique
Make no mistake that Palehound’s (aka El Kempner) newest album, Eye on the Bat (launched immediately on Polyvinyl), is of the breakup selection. However that’s exhausting to evaluate from its opening observe, “Good Intercourse.” It’s a slowly chugging stream of consciousness remembrance of a birthday seduction gone sideways. The kind of scenario the place one associate has a imaginative and prescient for the night will get derailed, or severely delayed, by the opposite being initially unaware of the hassle. “That tune was written as an inside joke on the time for simply me and my ex. I used to be writing the tune simply phrase for phrase because it occurred and when the connection ended I revisited it. I spotted the tune wasn’t really as humorous as I assumed. With 20/20 hindsight, it’s really type of unhappy,” Kempner explains.
When Underneath the Radar final interviewed Kempner (who makes use of they/them pronouns), it was in anticipation of their collaborative album with Jay Som (aka Melina Duterte) as Bachelor. The duo’s Doomin’ Solar (additionally launched on Polyvinyl) album was a rollicking one and efforts had been underway to take the present on the highway. With the specter of Omicron on the horizon, tour plans had been finally scrapped with Palehound transferring ahead on their very own taking part in dates with Lucy Dacus. “That was only a time frame when folks had totally different ranges of consolation with [touring]. Touring throughout COVID was simply an enormous threat and Melina and I didn’t actually wish to begin out on that foot. As a result of I’ve toured a lot and have such a rhythm with my bandmates, we had been in a position to take the tour as a result of we had lots much less to lose,” Kempner shares.
On the time of Doomin’ Solar’s launch, Kempner and their longterm associate had been dwelling in Upstate New York. Within the aftermath of their breakup, which is detailed most clearly on the brand new album’s “Independence Day,” Kempner relocated to the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn. “There’s a whole lot of moments on this report the place individuals are like, ‘That’s an awesome metaphor,’ however they aren’t metaphors. We actually broke up on July 4,” Kempner recollects almost two years later to the day this interview occurred. “There have been lights from the fireworks on our faces as we had been crying and breaking apart as a result of our neighbors had been throwing a celebration.” “Independence Day” additionally particulars a harrowing shared expertise the place a deer barrels into the passenger aspect of Kempner’s automotive throughout the remaining days of the connection. Doomin’ Solar’s “Keep within the Automobile” additionally got here from a time of togetherness for Kempner and their associate. These shared moments create a really feel of connectedness, however not ones that assure a lifelong final result. “That was a very lengthy relationship that spanned almost all of my 20s. I can’t separate [myself] from this individual and the instances we shared. So there are these illuminated moments that I needed to imagine would carry us collectively, however it [also] made me notice there’s much more to life,” Kempner explains.
Spending any period of time with Kempner, their heat and eagerness to make significant connections are readily obvious. So Kempner’s self-reflective tune, “My Evil,” is tough to take at face worth. Kempner (who owns as much as being a Gemini) insists they’ve two sides. The tune was written whereas feelings from the breakup had been nonetheless uncooked. “I used to be fairly devastated once I wrote that. I used to be coming to phrases with the breakup and realizing that I used to be able to hurting somebody I’d by no means have dreamed of injuring earlier than. It’s my disgrace tune. However now that I’m on the opposite aspect of the entire debacle, the place issues had been mentioned that I didn’t even wish to say, I can see how these instincts, regardless that painful, led to a whole lot of crucial change,” Kempner says.
Although Eye on the Bat’s themes might run to the darker aspect, it’s additionally Kempner’s most musically bold and different album. Co-produced with Sam Evian (Large Thief, Cass McCombs), Kempner additionally depends on the talents picked up throughout the recording of Doomin’ Solar. They put the hyperkinetic “U Need It U Obtained It” collectively themselves. And whereas “The Clutch” revels in a closely psychedelic crush of guitars, the gorgeously low key and pointedly particular “Proper About You” showcases delicately intricate dynamics. Understandably pleased with what they’ve delivered to bear on their newest and best album, it’s not stunning to listen to the place Kempner’s remaining ideas are centered. “I like placing out albums, however taking part in stay is the rationale I do that. It’s been actually exhausting to not tour. It’s been like an identification disaster. I’ve the very best lineup prepared for this tour [including longtime collaborator Larz Brogan] and I’m fucking stoked,” Kempner concludes. “It’s a bunch of people that I like personally and who I actually adore as musicians and I’m similar to, let’s go!”
Try our COVID-19 Quarantine Artist Examine-In interview with Palehound from 2020.
Try our 2021 interview with Bachelor.
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