Bristol Beacon
The UK artist combines feminist fury with accessible melodies and a dramatic flair that sees her alternately pogoing and seeking out the wind machines at the prow of the stage
People are dancing to a song they don’t know, with flower garlands in their hair and their arms around their friends. This reaction to Fairy Dance, an unreleased track written about the community that has sprung up around her music, says a lot about the moment Paris Paloma finds herself in, and tonight’s show feels for all the world like a stepping stone to bigger things.
Throughout, Paloma leans in to the built-in drama of songs from her second album, The Fatal Flaw, which pairs ornate folk arrangements with the sort of arena-sized alt-pop production favoured by Florence + the Machine. With a sculpture inspired by surrealist Ithell Colquhoun’s Tree of Veins dominating the stage, she falls to her knees to deliver high notes and seeks out wind machines at the prow of the stage, her flowing crimson dress buffeted as if on a wintry moor.