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May 31, 2023 By Mark Redfern Photography by Tonje Thilesen

Palehound (aka Ellen Kempner) is releasing a new album, Eye on the Bat, on July 14 via Polyvinyl. Now Kempner has shared the album’s second single, “My Evil,” via a lyric video that pays homage to the opening titles of the classic HBO TV series The Sopranos. Palehound has also announced some headlining tour dates. Check out the song and tour dates below. Tickets go on sale this Friday, June 2, at 10 a.m. local time.

Kempner (who uses they/them pronouns) had this to say about the new single in a press release: “‘My Evil’ is about the extremely humbling experience of realizing that yes, you Are the asshole. I found myself acting in ways I was ashamed of, and realizing how capable I was of hurting somebody when I was trying so hard not to. Sometimes when you try so hard to be a ‘good person’ you’re actually swinging so far and recklessly that you make a full circle back to being a shithead. It can be very hard to forgive yourself, and this song is a portrait of that struggle for me.”

Speaking of the song’s lyric video, Kempner says: “The Sopranos is a show that’s been constantly on loop in my life for the past few years. When I got the idea to make a video based on the intro credits of Tony driving through Jersey, I knew I had to do it with my friend Richard Orofino. He’s possibly even a bigger Sopranos fan than I am and he did an incredible job mapping out a lot of the original locations from the show, including Tony’s house that we see at the end of the video. This whole thing was super DIY, just me and Richard (and his camcorder) having the time of our lives and being embarrassing superfans. It’s not exactly shot for shot of the original but, to brag for a sec, I’m truly amazed at how close we were able to get it.”

Palehound previously shared the album’s first single, “The Clutch,” via a music video. “The Clutch” was one of our Songs of the Week.

Eye on the Bat is the follow-up to 2019’s Black Friday, although in 2021 Kempner teamed up with Melina Duterte of Jay Som to form Bachelor and release their debut album, Doomin’ Sun, via Polyvinyl.

Eye on the Bat was recorded across 2022 at Flying Cloud Recordings in the Catskills, with recording done in various brief sessions. Kempner co-produced the album with Sam Owens (Big Thief, Cass McCombs) and also worked with multi-instrumentalist Larz Brogan, a longtime Palehound collaborator.

Summing up the new album in a previous press release, Kempner said: “It’s about me, but it’s also about me in relation to others. After hiding for so long—staying inside and hiding your life and hiding yourself from the world—I was ready. I think I flipped.”

Check out our COVID-19 Quarantine Artist Check-In interview with Palehound from 2020.

Check out our 2021 interview with Bachelor.

Check out our My Favorite Album interview with Palehound.

Palehound North American Tour Dates:

# w/ Empath
$ w/ alexalone

10/17: Syracuse, NY @ The Lost Horizon #
10/19: New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom #
10/20: Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry #
10/21: Washington, DC @ Union Stage #
10/23: Richmond, VA @ Richmond Music Hall #
10/24: Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall #
10/25: Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade - Purgatory #
10/26: Nashville, TN @ Blue Room @ Third Man #
10/28: Austin, TX @ TBA
10/29: Oklahoma City, OK @ Factory Obscura
11/01: Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge $
11/02: San Diego, CA @ Casbah $
11/03: Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room $
11/04: San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel $
11/06: Seattle, WA @ Madame Lou’s $
11/07: Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios $
11/09: Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court $
11/10: Denver, CO @ Globe Hall $
11/11: Fort Collins, CO @ The Coast $
11/14: Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry $
11/15: Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon $
11/17: Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle $
11/18: Columbus, OH @ A&R Music Bar $

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