Palehound revels in reinvention on their new album, Eye On The Bat (out July 14), a sonic tangle of raw nerves coming undone amongst swelling, propulsive instrumentation. While their sinewy and off-kilter guitar playing remains front and center and their singular poetic voice is very much still present, El Kempner no longer buries the hurt in metaphor. “It’s about me, but it’s also about me in relation to others,” El says. “After hiding for so long – staying inside and hiding your life and hiding yourself from the world – I was ready. I think I flipped.” Pre-order your copy of our limited edition Early Bird vinyl on Black in Cloudy Clear with Green Splatter. 

Recorded in brief stints across 2022 at Flying Cloud Recordings in the Catskills, El stepped up to the soundboard for the first time to co-produce the new album alongside Sam Owens (Big Thief, Cass McCombs). They also credit multi-instrumentalist Larz Brogan, who they refer to as “my platonic life partner” and longtime member of Palehound since the Boston DIY days, as a vital part of the album's conception. 

On the record's intimate and electrifying first single, “The Clutch,” El shares:

"The Clutch" is the very first song I wrote for this album, back in 2020 right when lockdown started. I had been on a tour that was sliced in half by the onset of the pandemic and we had to apocalypse road trip back to New York across the country from Oregon, where our next show had been scheduled for. While that was happening, I was also having a triggering romantic experience with somebody I didn't know too well, and by the time I got home my whole body seemed to be spinning in turmoil. Writing and producing this song grounded me and helped me process a new future and self that I hadn't anticipated.”

Watch the music video (co-directed by Brittany Reeber and Adam Kolodny) below - 

Palehound - ‘Eye On The Bat’ Album Cover

Eye On The Bat Tracklist

1. Good Sex
2. Independence Day
3. The Clutch
4. Eye On The Bat
5. U Want It U Got It
6. Route 22
7. My Evil
8. Head Like Soup
9. Right About You
10. Fadin’