Noise Pop’s Thursday night lineup this year was, in a word, stacked. From quickly emerging artists Jay Som and Japanese Breakfast, to seasoned vets Madlib and Jeff Rosenstock, I was torn on who to see that night.

Boston-based indie rock band Palehound, too, acknowledged this dilemma to the crowd at Bottom of the Hill.

“A few months ago when I saw all the bands who were playing tonight, I thought zero people would come [here]. I did not expect anyone to come to this,” confided Palehound’s Ellen Kempner.

But the turnout proved her wrong. While Palehound’s 2017 sophomore LP, A Place I’ll Always Go, felt like it flew under most radars, the attendance that night revealed that there was an important undertow in Kempner’s music.

This appeared most strongly in Kempner’s solo performance “Feeling Fruit.” Kempner’s signature whispery voice, backed by her sincere and wistful guitar pickings, could carry her lyrics most passionately. In hushes and hums, Kempner sang of a grief that can’t help but seep into every moment in her life, comparing it to touching fruit for the first time after weeks of frozen meals at the grocery store. Navigating through routine, normal acts becomes a badge of quiet strength according to the song’s narrative ands its live delivery, with Kempner closing her eyes tensing her face in concentration.

 

 

Understated resilience is also found in a theme Palehound has candidly touched on with her recent songs: her queer identity. Though last week’s Valentine’s decorations – glowy red string lights and heart mobiles – still hung from the ceiling, they nicely clicked with Palehound’s love songs. For example, in “Room,” a song about love’s transformative effects on otherwise ordinary spaces, Kempner and the band brought a louder urgency to the number’s muffled veneer that appears in A Place I’ll Always Go. Between songs, Kempner expressed gratitude for the queer community, in both the bands she toured with and identifying audience members. Life on the road is kind of terrifying, confessed Kempner, but it’s comforting to find the, “epicenter of the [queer] community” night after night, across the country.

Photo from Polyvinyl

Palehound bookended the set with her bouncy, high tempo songs. 90s alt-rock inspired track “Carnations” and skatepunk/surf rock mashup “Molly” created a restless and fun energy at the start of the show. After a strand of Palehound’s slower numbers in the middle, (“I know if you wanted a bunch of sad, slow songs you would’ve seen Mount Eerie instead,” Kempner quipped) Kempner, bassist Larz Brogan, and drummer Jesse Weiss picked it up again with the indelibly catchy “Flowing Over” and a fiery rendition of “Cinnamon,” the band’s breakthrough single from debut Dry Foods (2015). Kempner and Brogan really showed their musical command, absolutely shredding their instruments while exchanging big smiles with Weiss.

Yes, there were almost too many concerts to choose from that Thursday. But should you happen to turn up to a Palehound show, like I did that night, you’d witness queer artists offering some seriously impressive guitar playing and the hues of vulnerability that come with heartache and loss. Not to mention, after all’s said and done, you’d get to witness the best merch idea I’ve come across: glittery nail polish, titled “Nailhound.”

 

 

Written by Adrienne Lee

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