We Speak Alternative

Palace Bring Their New Album Kid to The Salt Shed on November 13

Published

2 days ago

November 5, 2026

Photo: @wearepalace

Palace have spent a decade turning hushed London indie rock into something that fills big rooms without ever raising its voice. On Friday, November 13, the band brings that slow burning live show to The Salt Shed, touring behind Kid, the new album that sent them back across the Atlantic.

Palace plays The Salt Shed Indoors on Friday, November 13, with Willie J Healey opening the night. The Chicago stop sits on the band’s 30 date tour of the USA and Canada for the fall of 2026, a run that ends at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.

Kid, released in April 2026, is the latest chapter for singer Leo Wyndham, guitarist Rupert Turner and drummer Matt Hodges, who began playing together in London in 2012. The album follows the Greyhound EP from early 2025, the first release on Palace Presents, the band’s own label, and it keeps their signature sound intact: reverb washed guitars, unhurried tempos and Wyndham’s voice floating over the top of it all.

The Salt Shed, at 1357 North Elston Avenue, has become one of the defining rooms of Chicago’s current concert era, and its big indoor space suits a band whose songs are built to swell. Expect the new Kid material standing alongside the songs that built their following on both sides of the Atlantic.

Darren Jessee Returns With Wistful New Single “Shoulder Season”

Published

1 day ago

November 6, 2026

We Speak Media

Darren Jessee. Photo by Dustin Condren.

Darren Jessee has been the drummer behind Ben Folds Five and the songwriter behind Hotel Lights, and his new single sounds like a man deciding not to put the pen down. “Shoulder Season,” recorded by Bonny Light Horseman’s Josh Kaufman, previews a forthcoming solo album due in 2027.

North Carolina-based singer-songwriter Darren Jessee (Ben Folds Five, Hotel Lights) is proud to present “Shoulder Season,” the acclaimed multi-instrumentalist’s brand new single lifted from his forthcoming solo album that will see a 2027 release. Recorded by GRAMMY-winning musician and producer Josh Kaufman of Bonny Light Horseman and mixed by Peter Katis (The National, Kurt Vile), “Shoulder Season” traces the paths people chart in and around our lives over the years. The track also invites close listening, which in turn draws attention to Jessee’s evocative lyrics as well as the nuanced instrumental performances he and Kaufman captured on tape. “‘Shoulder Season’ … I liked the words by themselves,” Jessee says. “They suggest perseverance and resilience during a season of time. The term shoulder season means a transitional time of year.” Watch the music video for “Shoulder Season” on YouTube.

Darren Jessee was in a period of personal upheaval. His mother had recently passed away after a short illness. He was also touring as a drummer for the Americana act Chatham County Line, a gig that he enjoyed but one that kept him from performing much as a solo artist. And then his label rep at Bar/None, home of Jessee’s last seven albums, retired. In the wake of it all, Jessee found himself wondering if it was perhaps time to set aside the burden of managing a songwriting career and simply lean into his work as a drummer. “But then I just kept finding these songs and enjoying them,” he says of his forthcoming solo showcase that symbolizes a new beginning for the veteran musician — an organic, hushed and transcendent sound very much inspired by the blizzard that the album was recorded in.

Stay tuned for more music and information on Darren Jessee’s forthcoming solo album to be announced in the coming weeks. Jessee will be making the following appearances in November:

November 12 — Wake Forest, NC — Wake Forest Listening Room

November 18 — Greensboro, NC — Flat Iron (with Natalie Jane Hill)