“I just panic-shotted some tequila,” Fabiana Palladino tells us before missing the first refrain of ‘Give Me A Sign’, and then admitting “I forgot to sing.” Granted, it’s not the most professional of midpoints to a set, but then again Fabiana would be wise to add a sprinkle of imperfection to her game.
The songstress and multi-instrumentalist has been effectively waiting in the wings until the release of her exquisite eponymous debut album at the turn of last month; the story goes, she was too perfectionist to release anything into the world beforehand.
Her devotees have hence been left waiting a while. Palladino was the first artist signed to Paul Institute, the best part of a decade ago, after her demos were found by the mysterious Jai Paul (who established his namesake label alongside his brother A.K.). In many ways, perhaps her slender output over the years – just three singles between 2017 and 2023 – is more a reflection of the revered producer who’s become her mentor, whose releases are few and far between.
This waiting game still placed an inevitable degree of pressure on the artist. In a recent interview with Apple Music’s Matt Wilkinson, the 36-year-old spoke of her nerves ahead of an in-store album show. “It dawned on me what it meant,” she said, “this long period of time that it’s taken to get here… it just felt like, ‘Okay, this is quite big actually.’” So when it came to her biggest headline show to date, at Shoreditch’s Village Underground, you could hardly blame her for taking a big swig of something strong beforehand.
The fluttering of nerves could be heard in the vocals to set opener ‘Deeper’, but once the disarming grace of her compositions kicked into gear, a glimmering smoothness emerged. Having been a session musician for the likes of Sampha and Jessie Ware (and raised among session music royalty as daughter to the great Pino Palladino), here was a moment for the songstress to emerge from her shell.
It helps that she has a wonderful raft of new material to construct her set. A fusion of 80s synths and the experimental pop of today, Fabiana Palladino shimmies from the twinkling balladry of ‘I Can’t Dream Anymore’ to the slow and sensual ‘In The Fire’. (A current TikTok trend where parents are asked how they would have danced in the 80s to New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’ embodies the same nostalgia as this record between that period and the present day).
What’s more, written in the aftermath of a bruising breakup, its lyrics are pained but heartfelt, adding a bit of melodramatic anguish for effect – recalling the 80s once more. When she sings “I shoulda let go / It’s sad but it’s true” onstage on ‘Shoulda’, she means it; likewise, when she sings “Deeper, there’s no turning back / There’s only one way out of your shell,” in her velvety throwback of a voice on ‘Deeper’, she’s firmly pronouncing her emotional restoration.
Speaking of throwbacks, Fabiana asked the crowd if there were “any Paul Institute fans in the house?” before launching into 2020’s subtle glam-rock-esque ‘Waiting’. Following this with 2018’s aptly-titled ‘Shimmer’, this was the moment her longtime loyal listeners had long-been waiting for, as one fan in front of me lit up in jubilation, turning to their partner as though it were their wedding song.
There was another brief technical stumble, as the lights faded to black and some onstage murmuring could be heard. Plus, there was the admission that “Jai’s not here, so I’ll sing my verse,” on his album feature ‘I Care’ (although given he’s about as elusive as a gaff-free election campaign speech from Rishi Sunak, would we even know if he was?).
To that end, ‘I Care’ was taken care of with stark beauty from Fabiana. Its minimal electronic beat could be derived straight from Tirzah’s acclaimed Devotion LP, whilst Fabiana’s lyrics and vocalisation strike somewhere between Everything But The Girl’s Tracey Thorn and Kate Bush.
And with some of the great vocalists in mind, Fabiana and her bandmates – bassist Darryl Dodoo, drummer Jay Sikora, guitarist Joe Newman and Katie Dove Dixon on keys – turned to a smooth cover of Sade’s ‘By Your Side’. “Thank you,” Fabiana told the crowd. “Thank you Sade, more like,” she hastily added, clearly starting to enjoy a bit of crowd back-and-forth.
In that vein, she stepped away from the mic stand she’d been keen to hold onto for most of the show, and found groove with the jazzier climes of set closer ‘Stay With Me Through The Night’. Given how long fans had waited for her debut album, and given just how good it really is, you hope that’s where she’ll now stay: fully-lit under the spotlight.
