King Hannah + Pina Palau Strange Brew, Bristol 30/08/24

Alternative-rock outfit with a post-punk edge, King Hannah are comprised of Liverpool-based, Hannah Merrick and Craig Whittle. Recorded in Bristol towards the end of last year - their sophomore album, Big Swimmer sees the duo hone their skills and continue their successful trajectory. Songs like New York, Let’s Do Nothing and The Mattress pose a fulfilling flavour-fusion of Laura Marling, Mazzy Star and Sonic Youth.

For the band’s tour across Europe, Swiss singer, Pina Palau was contacted directly by King Hannah on Instagram and asked if she would join them. In disbelief, Palau thought, “This must be a mistake”. Palau writes on Instagram,

“It’s hard to express in a post how excited I am about this […] I’ve always wanted to do exactly this”.

After dropping all her September plans in a heartbeat, there they were, performing their first night together in Bristol’s very own Strange Brew.

For what is a small venue, Strange Brew manages to boast a wide stage with a large open dancefloor, allowing more gig-goers to be close to the action and still have easy access to a drink from the friendly staff behind the bar! Not to mention, it’s fitted with a small-planet sized disco ball that shimmers moody red and hot pink lighting - a worthy throne room for the reigning, King Hannah and Pina Palau.

Pina Palau

Once in pursuit of a medical degree, Pina Palau was swept away from her goal of becoming a psychiatrist with the success of her debut album, Illusion and it’s hit single, Jupi in 2022.

Despite usually being supported by a band on stage - Palau captured the crowd’s undivided attention alone, armed with a clean-tone electric guitar. This made room for the songs to be appreciated in their rawest form - bringing her method, honest lyricism and silky vocals into the foreground.

Palau expressed how the absence of her backing band allows her the freedom to trial new songs, making this Bristol audience the first to hear them. During the first of these new songs, Palau explores her yearning to be truly understood in a relationship and the empowerment that this deeper level of intimacy with another person provides. She sang,

'You see me… You give me determination like nobody else. Underneath the skin, underneath the muscle. To the marrow of my bones, I don’t wanna be alone'.

The next song Palau showcased was bound to be a personal favourite as soon as she attached a neck-held harmonica. It radiated warm tones of melancholy entwined with the wistful major-to-minor chord progressions that transitioned Palau’s sobering lyrics – challenging another’s behaviours in shutting away their emotions and therefore, the fruits of a true intimacy. She asks, 'You wake up late at night… a tear rolls down your cheek. Do you lock the door?'.

Palau spoke on what inspired her newly released Modern Home, from her 2024 album release, Get A Dog. She remarked on how difficult it is to find accommodation in Zurich and asked the audience if it is the same in Bristol. With the crowd in firm agreement, she explained that any new accommodation she found in Zurich would still contain photos of the previous residents, leading her to ponder the story they shared under the same roof. Once moved into a New York apartment, Palau found the walls were bare,

'There’s nothing left behind. No stories to remember. The air is circulated by a very smart machine. You never have to open and let the air in. It’s a modern home'.

With Palau’s closing song, we receive the final brush stroke on the picture that she paints of this modern existence - shifting the lens from the mundanity of what’s within our walls to the injustices of what is beyond.

Palau argues, We’ve Got No Time At All.

'I’m getting tired of old white men telling me what to do… There’s a war in Ukraine. They’re levelling it to the ground. There’s a shooting in Texas while LA is burning down. We’re still young, they say. We have time'.

Pina Palau on her latest album, Get A Dog lifts a musically dynamic magnifying glass up to you and your world with an expert hand. Her brutal honesty in assessment of the modern condition serves as a soothing reminder to navigate through the unrelenting unnatural and find connection amidst the chaos.

Listen to Get A Dog here.

Listen to Illusion here.

King Hannah

King Hannah have an austere presence onstage. If the deep and heavy nature of the songs wasn’t captivating enough, guitarist and singer-songwriter, Hannah Merrick carries herself with a rock-steady stillness that informs you without language – they mean business. Opening the set with the brooding 8-minute track, Somewhere Near El Paso, Merrick’s subtly symphonic passages of spoken-word narrate the scene as she pre-empts an attack of predatory nature. In her dejected stream-of-consciousness, she mutters, 'I was observing them. Said he’d take it to the whorehouse that evening. Poor girl deserves a warning'. Merrick’s sinister and smoky voice seeps through the soundwaves and fills the cracks in the room, 'That was a bad decision… That was a bad decision’.

Craig Whittle’s backdrop of earth-shattering tones of guitar distortion devolve into a single repeated drone that brings you to a complete standstill, only to rev up and wreak havoc all over again. Songs like this, The Mattress and Go-Kart Kid (Hell No!) unleash rhythms that swing around your neck like a pendulum until you have no choice but to bow your head in time.

Along their journey touring America two years ago, King Hannah found influence for the alluringly structured tales told on their highly focused 2024 album release, Big Swimmer. The stories King Hannah tell are no strangers to the dark side. When asked in interview with Paradiso what the most impactful moment they encountered on tour was, Merrick responded “America is obviously incredible, and we saw some amazing things. But I think the traumatic things are the stuff that I personally remember the most and so that's why they end up on the album”.

One experience led to the creation of the gritty, Milky Boy (I Love You) - which captures a single frame and expands it into a full-scale horror flick, told from Merrick’s fly-on-the-wall view of the scene. Sludgy, suspenseful fuzz-guitar riffs and marching drums veil the room as Merrick howls the words,

‘He swung a hammer at that little boy's face. He missed on purpose, because he enjoyed it’.

John Prine On The Radio has Merrick indulge in some of the simple pleasures in life, cooking chicken and enjoying – you guessed it, John Prine on the radio. “Any John Prine fans?”, Merrick asks as the applause for the song dies down.

“…Any chicken fans?”, The crowd erupts and returns to silence… “F*ckin’ love chicken”, calls one voice for the last laugh. For the most part, King Hannah let the music speak for itself throughout the night.

Despite the intensity and ferocity of Hannah Merrick and Craig Whittle’s heavy grooves, they’re rarely asking you to dance – more to sway, listen and watch in awe. This was a sentiment shared in the respectful crowd that Strange Brew and the artists drew that evening.

Their closing song, Crème Brûlée takes a more personal look and points the camera at our narrator and host for the night, Hannah Merrick. On a floating bed of dreamy and gradually swelling soundscapes, Merrick’s ghostly voice glides through, ‘I need you so bad. And I think I like you too much. Wanna do something about it?’.

Before the song, Merrick expressed the band’s nerves leading up to playing their first night of the tour.

“It really is the dream to see a full crowd. Honest to God, It’s everything. So, thank you ever so much”.

It’s safe to say their fans at Bristol’s Strange Brew set King Hannah’s tour of Europe off on the right foot. With the crowd left wanting more, one fan called out "Eighteen more songs!”. Unless that person made a visit to the merch stand after the show, they didn’t get those songs - but you can.

Listen to Big Swimmer here.

Listen to I’m Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me here.