Singer-songwriter El Kempner’s fourth record as Palehound details a tough breakup and a tour scrapped due to the pandemic, so you’d think it’d be a bummer. Instead, Eye on the Bat is joyful in its own cheerfully fatalistic way, full of moments that suck to live through but are great to laugh at later. On “Good Sex”, a botched attempt at seduction unfolds as a cat watches on, “lickin’ his ass and looking confused.” Kempner’s confident guitar playing holds it all down, from intimate, Big Thief-esque acoustic finger-picking to full-on rock-god riffage. There’s plenty of wispy, wallow-y, diaristic indie rock out there—this ain’t it.