The latest installment of Public Radio Sessions—which shoots one-take, one-camera live performances in novel locations and posts one each week—features Palehound, the songwriting vessel of Boston artist Ellen Kempner. Playing out of a tiny Honeytone amplifier on a bluff above Ponce de Leon Ave. in Atlanta, GA, with headlights illuminating the street below, Kempner performs spare, moving renditions of three songs: “Holiest”, from the 2014 Kitchen EP; the title-track to Palehound’s 2015 full-length Dry Food; and the unreleased “I’m Alright With You”, which has appeared in recent live sets. The latter song hinges on a fingerpicked guitar motif and elongated vocal phrasing. Alternately forlorn and warily contented, the quiet, up-close video amplifies the song’s intimacy and focuses viewers on Kempner’s flair for emotional inflection.
Watch the videos above and below, and revisit Geoff Nelson’s 2015 feature, “Palehound Laughs at the Past.”
