While overall it ranks as a slight disappointment given how much I loved Palehound’s previous record, Black Friday (#5 on this List in 2019), Eye on the Bat is still a wonderful album full of unpredictable, diaristic reflections on lost love and, as is a regular motif for El Kempner, feelings of inadequacy. The record is deeply emotional, but also, often, funny, and – less often but occasionally – very sweet. Kempner’s voice is as ‘real’ and raw as it always has been, and their carefully crafted songs are, once again, beautiful slices of indie rock. Musically, Eye on the Bat is perhaps a little mellower than Black Friday, and I think that might explain why it hasn’t chimed for me quite as much. It also treads some similar ground to another artist on this List (see below!), but does so slightly less well, and the comparison may have hurt it somewhat. Whenever I play Eye on the Bat I adore it, but I haven’t chosen to play it as much as I was expecting prior to its release, or anywhere near as much as I played its predecessor. All of which helps explain the bottom half placing. Nonetheless, this is still another great record from Kempner, who is carving out an impressive singer-songwriter niche for Gen Z lost souls.