One of the most deeply revered voices in modern music, alt-soul shamaness Nai Palm facilitated a sonic trip during the first stop of her six-city US stint at Los Angeles’ Lodge Room.
As Hiatus Kaiyote wraps up their North American Summer Tour, lead songstress Nai Palm embarks on a side quest of her own. Performing songs for the first time in years off her 2017 solo project ‘Needle Paw’, these raw and stripped-down solo shows give Palm a chance to dance outside of Kaiyote’s electrifying lines, a completely acoustic set that slows the pulse and centers her swelling vocals. Belting signature favourites like ‘Molasses’, ‘Haiku’, ‘Crossfire / So Into You’, and ‘Atoll’ with no visible exertion, there are no theatrics necessary to prove Palm is her ancestor’s wildest dreams and long overdue for her proper accolades.
The sold-out show reimagined the miracle of the bare minimum: a guitar, three additional singers, Nai Palm herself, and the wooden walls of a quaint hall. The experience was both deeply intimate and spiritually transformative, as if Palm and every individual attendee had known each other since childhood. Warm audience interactions between songs as she beamed with wanderlust, Nai Palm is rooted in her power when she delivers the gift of her art.
Palm’s ‘Baby Brother’ performance mid-show was a particular standout, an open letter penned to her siblings at a time when death loomed. The audience fell hypnotized by her outpouring, nearly four minutes of both the wounding and the healing. It was a risk to blink.
One of the most stunning moments of the show, however, was Texas-raised, Brooklyn-based opener Elliott Skinner. Palm continually joked throughout her set that the entire tour was a ruse to get Skinner in front of as many people as possible— and rightfully so. He captivated an awe-stricken audience, his folk sound both gutwrenching and alivening. Gleaming with humility that he was gifted the chance to be on stage, the audience would surely argue we were gifted the chance to witness him, many moved to tears and assured he only has bigger in store.
Kicking off her solo stint as tickets fly for her upcoming San Diego, Las Vegas, Boulder, New Orleans, and Austin shows, The Lodge Room was filled to the brim with lovers, sweethearts, and new friends, Palm’s audience a reflection of her. She’s built an ecosystem where people who are battered and bruised yet open-hearted and deeply hopeful can come to be held and hold. Nai Palm has put God into music, and her music has become its own religion.
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Words: Jazmin Kylene
