Palehound’s third album is a delight. I’m not sure how their first two records passed me by (still need to go back and investigate those!) but Black Friday is the first time I’ve found them. I say ‘them’: although Palehound is strictly speaking a band, their leader Ellen Kempner’s DNA is infused into every note and word of this album. And she pours out her soul. I was already very much in love with this record before I knew that it was written immediately following the death of a close friend of Kempner’s, as well as during the emotional process of her partner undergoing gender reassignment. Having been conceived in that context, there is understandably real darkness here, but also a surprising amount of joy. Kempner’s self-doubt and pain is offset by a cross cutting theme of the beauty of being around other people and drawing on their (flawed but fundamental) love and support. The music is an ethereal indie: picked guitars, piano, soft synths and hovering, soulful vocals (with occasional injections of grimier rock). Every track is affecting and ‘real’. Black Friday is a massive accomplishment, and hard won.