The magik is real--
On a Monday night filled with allusions of nature, nurture, feminist pride and independence, UK folk pop sensation Paris Paloma took over a very sold-out Truman in downtown Kansas City for a long-awaited, spellbinding performance.
The evening began with a thirty-minute opening set from Dutch sister singing duo Sarah Julia, in support of their latest EP, “Only Making It Worse” due out on 9 May, and its lead single, “Amsterdam”.
They pair began singing together early on, including an appearance at the Junior Eurovision Song Festival 2013 with their original, "Live Life" (though didn’t win the competition). The duo harmonized completely in tandem, like similar acts we’ve recently seen, but took a more modern approach (vs. traditional) to their version of folk.
An under-powered laptop forced an impromptu setlist swap of “Conspiracy Theorist” and “Game of Pretend” (a ‘special and favorite’ song of the sisters to play), which was quickly adjusted to, and the howls and woos in the audience proved the two already had a strong local following.
“Cairngorms” was written about a ‘magical park’ in Scotland that they visited as children, which also serves as a place the sisters can go to into their minds, as a place of calm. The set would end with their latest single, about the city in which they live (following being born and raised in Rotterdam) and is also an allegory of personal relationships with its lyric, “It isn't what she deserves, you're only making it worse and I ain't moving on without her.”
As mentioned this show was long sold out and was clearly evident in those telltale signs at the venue- a long line for entry stretching way down the block with people begging for spare tickets; “Sold Out AF” on the marquee and at the box office at the venue’s entrance; a line around the inside just to get to the merch stand; and a packed general admission floor with turbine-sized ceiling fans blowing on high.
For Darbyshire UK native, Paris Paloma, her time has truly arrived. The packed house, many dressed in olde English fairie and magik-inspired dress, screamed and yelped even before the main act went on stage- during stagehand instrument tuning, songs played between sets, and of course, as the lights went down to begin the much-anticipated, eighty-minute headlining performance.
Paloma first made online waves releasing songs during the pandemic, eventually signing with Nettwerk in 2022 and releasing singles, “Forsaken” and “Notre Dame” on the label. Influenced by the likes of Florence and the Machine, Hozier, Aurora, Ed Sheeran and others, her ethereal blend of alternative folk proved a perfect combination for fans (more female than male) to embrace at community-like levels.
2023 breakout single, “Labour” still seems fresh for us in the States, with Paloma just having memorably performed it on a recent Late Show with Stephen Colbert episode (repeats on Mar 20) and we first took notice some three years ago as she was added to festivals like Bonnaroo and played her first American live dates.
After the opening, “My Mind (Now)” and “Drywall”, she paused to say hello and wish everyone a Happy St. Pat’s Day as well as a Happy Hozier’s Birthday (the Irish singer’s birth happens to fall on the same day). She also asked everyone in the crowd introduce themselves to each other, to help set the friendly tone of the night and as a gesture of unity.
Paloma only had two other musicians on stage with her- MD, drummer and keys player Jim Molyneux behind on her left, and guitar/bassist George Cowley behind her on the right, but with their instrumentations and some samples, the three could create an errr, cacophony of arena-sized boom, or a delicate feather whisper, which required and received a collective hush from the enraptured crowd.
“Cacophony” is the debut full-length, out last August (via Nettwerk Music Group) and most of the setlist was drawn from those tracks of feminist fervor, rebelling against societal expectations, and Paloma’s own experiences to dissent when necessary while encouraging those to create their own herstory.
“Knitting Song” was written about and dedicated to her late grandmother (helped come to life on stage by the vocals of Sarah Julia) and her newest song, “Good Boy” is an angry rebuke against the current patriarchy in our country, and its rippling influences abroad.
The set would slow as it progressed, becoming more ethereal along the way, on songs like “The Last Woman on Earth” about the continued pedestalization of some females, and she was eventually left solo for “Triassic Love Song”, which became a hushed sing-along.
“The Rider” was a full circle number, she explained, having covered Ed Sheeran’s “I See Fire” (from Lord of the Rings) in her very earliest days, and then completely thrilled to have been asked to contribute a song to the closing credits of last year’s LOTR: The War of the Rohirrim film- a middle-earth dream for the band, who all professed to be Tolkien fans.
2022’s early song, “The Fruits” was sung by most of the audience, a song composed in Paloma’’s dorm room while attending university, and a landmark song in her own journey that helped focus the musical direction she wanted to move forward with.
The thundering drums against bird and nature sounds of “Hunter” ended the main set, but the trio quickly re-emerged for the single-song encore of Paloma’s biggest hit-to-date, “Labour” with its defiant and independent lyric, “he can live out his picket fence dreams, (but) it's not an act of love if you make her.”
You know it’s no ordinary show when it sells out months ahead of time, care and thought by attendees are put into what exactly to wear and who to go with, the merch stand even offers a free book exchange, and circles of fairy dancing spontaneously take place in the crowd, but this was no ordinary artist either. Paris Paloma is really still just getting started but has already built a fan community and critical attention, that most veteran artists would surely envy. Consider us under her spell as well.
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