Queues around the block prior to the doors opening at, if the signage was to be believed, Bristol’s premier independent music venue, suggested that the small UK tour of an established Aussie band, had not gone unnoticed. Enhanced with the not insignificant appearance of the highly rated Brit, Bess Atwell as support, the gig was clearly highly anticipated, and the floor was packed well in advance of Atwell’s appearance.
There is an enlightening YouTube video of Atwell at Aaron Dessner’s Long Pond Studio in New York. It outlines how her most recent album, Light Sleeper, came to fruition and allows Atwell to open up about the creative process that drove the album. It was an album that was highly regarded on this website back in 2024 and Atwell leant heavily on this album in her 30-minute set. Atwell describes the songs as highly personal and there certainly was an intimacy in her delivery. Many in the audience clearly had a knowledge of the songs that suggested, for them, Atwell was as much a draw as the Kites.
Atwell usually tours with a band so the thought of appearing solo was appealing to her and it was clear that the Kites had very much brought her into their family, including a bunk on their tour bus. Two standouts from that recent album were The Weeping, a song written for Atwell’s sister, and Crowds, which Atwell introduced as a track about the difficulties of being on tour with someone you are about to break up with.
That integration of Atwell into the bosom of The Paper Kite’s family was demonstrated a few minutes into the band’s set when lead singer Sam Bentley invited her back on to the stage to accompany him around a Delphina microphone for Dearest. On their album Roses it was Lydia Cole who provided the accompaniment, and here Atwell proved she was more than up to the task of replicating that vocal on a gorgeous track. With Atwell existing stage left the band returned to join Bentley around the Delphina. With only Bentley’s acoustic guitar as an accompaniment, they delved even further into their not insubstantial back catalogue with Paint. This arrangement was how the gig had kicked off. No grand entrance here. Six musicians ambling to one mic as they launched ever so gently into Morning Gum, the opening track of the new album If You Go There, I Hope You Find It.
This set the stage for the show. If gigs generally gain momentum as they go and as the audience respond and take things up a level accordingly, then it is a brave and confident artist that will break that momentum in favour of the unexpected. As if to prove that point, that laid back duet with Atwell had been preceded by a magnificent rendition of Black and Thunder, a brilliant rock out number that was an absolute triumph here.
With that willingness to take the show down a notch, to ramp up the intimacy and really immerse the crowd into proceedings, Mitchell stepped down from the stage with mic in hand to encourage the crowd to accompany him on Without Your Love as he entered into a little vocal sparring with Christina Lacy back on stage. Taking that intimacy a step further, a later diversion saw Mitchell take that mic for a walk into the heart of the crowd with only the light of a paper lantern to show the way. As a trio, and with only Bentley’s acoustic for company, there followed a hugely intimate rendition of Deep (In The Plans We Made), another song taken from that new album. It was such an unexpected diversion, it felt the whole audience held a collective breath out of respect.
The jackpot was properly hit when the first encore song was the song that first helped propel The Paper Kites into a wider consciousness. Bloom was released in 2010 and was clearly well known in these environs if the full and loud chorus audience accompaniment was any indication. The band ended with another new song, When The Lavender Blooms, and the warmth of the reception seemed to be mirrored in the reaction of the band members, all of whom seemed to be humbled and hugely appreciative of the reaction. The Paper Kites had made a big impression but, on this evening in Bristol, that clearly was a two-way street. As highlighted on these pages earlier this year, the new album is a beautiful thing and, for those not fortunate enough to have caught The Paper Kites on tour, it should be considered an essential purchase.
