I Just Read About That…

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 20, 2023] Palehound / Empath

I saw Palehound twice within a few months back in 2018.

Palehound singer/guitarist Ellen Kempner is a fantastic guitarist and a really compelling frontwoman.  I’m not entirely sure what she’s been up to since then (two albums apparently).

As far as I can see they haven’t played Philly since then.  I was pretty excited to see them, but her date landed right on my daughter’s birthday.  So, yeah, that isn’t happening.

No questions asked.

Empath are a Philly band that play a kind of noise punk.  Rolling Stone says “They sound like four people who sat in a room flexing their own freaky styles until — before they realized their interests might be wholly incompatible — the chaos created its own logic.”  They sound pretty great.

I could have seen Empath 4 times, but each time something happened.  The most recent time, they were supposed to open for Fucked Up but cancelled (and I got to see Pony, so that was okay).

I do hope to see them one of these days.

The duo have accumulated over 15 million streams across their catalogue and have received praise from various publications including Billboard, Paper, Office Magazine and Pigeons and Planes. The singles from their 2022 EP My Friend Mica landed a spot on New Music Friday, All New Indie, and the focus track “Legs” crept up to a #1 spot on Lorem. Most recently they released an acoustic version of their track “Smithereens” with UK indie powerhouse Rachel Chinouriri.

Boyish was the recipient of the 2021 LGBTQ+ Emerging Artist Award presented by the Music Forward Foundation as well as the the first band to be added to the Bandsintown Big Break Class of 2021. Additionally, the duo was featured on a 16-song 2022 Record Store Day x Vans compilation vinyl entitled Portraits of Her alongside Taylor Swift, Girl in Red, Julien Baker and more.

They play dreamy, slightly twisted bedroom pop. “Fuck You Heather” is pretty funny.  They also pick up the tempo on a couple of songs, like “Split Up” but it still retains their soft vocals.