Palehound

El Kempner, the Boston-based singer/songwriter, introduced Palehound in the mid-2010s with a style anchored in the D.I.Y. indie rock and grungy, low-key folk of the 1990s. Moving beyond early lo-fi bedroom pop experiments, Kempner solidified the project as a rock trio and aligned with Polyvinyl to release albums including the well-received 2017 set A Place I'll Always Go and Black Friday in 2019. Forming the duo Bachelor with Jay Som yielded the collaborative 2021 album Doomin' Sun. Retaining echoes of those 1990s sources, Palehound delivered the more impulsive breakup album Eye on the Bat in 2023.

Kempner began writing songs at age ten. Referencing Elliott Smith, Angel Olsen, and Kim Deal, the material stays confessional and frequently caustic, marked by a wry, offbeat quality. While pursuing music studies at New York's Sarah Lawrence College, the debut EP Bent Nail appeared on Exploding in Sound Records. This quirky fusion of grunge-folk and 1990s-influenced indie sparked early interest, leading Kempner to withdraw from school and devote full attention to songwriting and Palehound's first full-length. Enlisting producer Gabe Wax (Wye Oak, Speedy Ortiz) and the new rhythm section of drummer Jesse Weiss and bassist Nick Koechel, the band tracked Dry Food, issued by Heavenly Records in August 2015.

After joining Polyvinyl in early 2017, Palehound followed with A Place I'll Always Go, a reflective album on love and loss that further refined the band's approach. Again working with Wax, Kempner and the lineup—Weiss plus new bassist Larz Brogan—recorded the ruminative Black Friday at California's Panoramic House Studios, with the album arriving in June 2019. Linking with fellow bedroom pop artist Jay Som in the duo Bachelor produced the 2021 debut LP Doomin' Sun.

Kempner's next Palehound effort was framed explicitly as a breakup album. Partnering with producer Sam Owens (Sam Evian, Big Thief, Courtney Marie Andrews) and Brogan, who contributed bass and drums on most tracks, they pursued a rawer, live sound captured at home and at Flying Cloud Recordings in the Catskills. Eye on the Bat reached Polyvinyl in July 2023.