If you weren’t already “in the know”, now’s your chance to catch up. Palehound has been an absolute force in the indie rock world since the release of their freshman record Dry Food, which is easily one of my favorite albums to play while sitting on my porch chain-smoking Marlboro Reds. On July 14th of this year, the band released their fourth album Eye on the Bat, and it was completely unsurprisingly 29 minutes of heat. I know 29 minutes seems like the shortest long play imaginable, but it still does not compare to the famously 18-minute PinkPantheress album, to hell with it, which sparked memes about how short the songs are for way too long past the point it stopped being funny. Are short records making a comeback? Regardless, though it is short, I do also feel that Palehound’s writing proves a certain level of tastefulness that makes it just make sense.
Seeing them play live has been on my to-do list since probably around 2019, and I was incredibly lucky to have been able to make it while their tour stopped at the Empty Bottle on November 17th. Unrelated to the show (I’ll get to the point, I promise), but my fondest memory of the Empty Bottle was when I stumbled into their HonkyTonk Happy Hour on a sweaty summer day after dancing to an old guy cover band playing 25 minutes’ worth of Fleetwood Mac at a nearby block party. Chicago is awesome. That was also the day I learned how cool swing dancing is. If you weren’t aware, the Empty Bottle also has a cat named Peg that patrols the venue premises. Sometimes when I go there for a show, I catch myself looking for the kitty just as much as I am watching whoever is on stage. Fortunately, for Palehound, I was mostly watching their set.
If I had to sum up my time seeing them play the new record live, I would use only one word: delicious. El Kempner’s luscious speak-singy vocals are so distinct to their sound, and they are so much cooler live than in the recordings (which is saying a lot already). Having the whole band up there added like five layers to the experience. I was already a pretty big Palehound fan, but finally getting to see them play live jumpstarted me into my next musical obsession. Massive thanks to Radio DePaul and Empty Bottle for hooking this up.
If I had to make one piece of criticism about this particular show, it would be a commentary on the crowd. Every time I go to the Empty Bottle, I find that the crowd is always a complete hit or miss, no matter the type of music playing that night. The crowd for Palehound was about exactly what I expected on the dyed-hair-sad-guy front (present company included), but most of this sold-out crowd stayed almost entirely still the entire time. There was your usual swaying and head bobbing, but there was basically no movement even during their more upbeat tracks. I understand going to a show and only wanting to listen to the music, but please… move to the back. All things considered; I still had an incredible time.
Oh, and for anyone wondering, no I did not end up finding the cat.