Not a huge number of new releases caught my fancy this Friday. Well you can't win them all. Still there's a new Palehound album just out which is always good news.
Recorded in the Catskill Mountains with Sam Evian, (who has shown fine form co-producing heavy hitters Big Thief and Class McCombs), Eye on the Bat is mighty fine, though the bio on Palehound's Spotify homepage, which make it sound like the Indie Second Coming, may be over egging the pudding slightly.
This particular race, The by turns angry and deeply sensitive American young lady wielding an electric guitar Derby, is an overcrowded field at the minute. Runners and riders. You've got Phoebe Bridgers, who is slightly ahead of the pack right now. Then there are her Boygenius pals Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker straining neck and neck. There's Watchahatchee, nostrils flaring as she makes a late burst on the rails. What chance has poor Palehound got against all this proven talent, trailing badly in their wake, three furlongs from home ,
Eye on the Bat is clearly a record that fancies it chances mind and might well win the rosette this year regardless of the stellar competition. It has the chops, the melodies and heart a sensitive teen could possibly want and as the excellent songs pile up you begin to suspect that perhaps Sophie, Lucy and all those seasoned pros might need to fear for their laurels somewhat.
The record starts with Good Sex which I'm sure is something we all enjoy given the chance and powers on from there. Queer pilot El Kempner reads out a diary of the Love Wars and it all sounds like enormous fun. Even the heartbreak.
This is a mighty record. It's one I'm hearing slightly too often for my liking these days but it deserves respect and airplay. There are any number of wonderful tracks that it strikes me that Eye on the Bat will shift units and raise Palehound's profile no end over the coming months. You read it here first.
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