After three widely acclaimed albums of personal, cleverly crafted, '90s-derived lo-fi grunge-folk,
Palehound's
El Kempner decided to alter their approach a bit without changing their style. A self-declared breakup album, fourth LP
Eye on the Bat was co-produced by
Kempner and
Sam Owens (aka
Sam Evian) with input from bandmember
Larz Brogan, who helped fulfill the songwriter's vision of a rawer-sounding outing that captured some of the energy of their live shows. Whatever they did to that end works splendidly with the record's mix of wry, self-depreciating, confrontational, annoyed, and wistful songs, which take listeners through the complicated emotions of a breakup that wasn't entirely the fault of the ex.
Eye on the Bat begins with a dramatically stark and candid sex song, "Good Sex," which finds
Kempner playfully musing over marching electric guitar strums about a time they were left hanging in a celebratory birthday corset and how jokes about good sex are ultimately in-jokes. With the album's mischievous tone successfully set, they move on to lithe rocker "Independence Day," which opens with the line "We broke up on Independence Day." Throughout
Eye on the Bat,
Kempner nails first lines like a novelist -- one with a punk-lit flair -- and keeps all ears on its evocative, cringing narratives while delivering grungy anthems such as "a punch in the gut" on the noodly "The Clutch"; driving, bass-driven post-punk like on "U Want It U Got It" (the metal-edged "Head Like Soup" also employs post-punky synths); or moseying folk-rock as exemplified on the condemning "Right About You" ("You were right about it scaring me/And I was right about you scaring me too"). The album's rotation of visceral distortion, riffy twang, and bittersweet melodicism comes to a close on acoustic entry "Fadin," whose twinkling, harp-like guitars and piano give an appropriately Grimms' fairy tale-like impression to a song about losing yourself. Taken together, it's a keen and catchy, often poetic, always emotionally honest outing that raises the bar on the project's already well-established strengths. ~ Marcy Donelson
