The prospect of a Jai Paul live show was never on the cards. Many believed Paul had totally quit music after the infamous leak in 2013, but in the time since he was quietly working with his brother A.K. and a small team of collaborators as the Paul Institute. Sporadic releases gave few hints of a full scale comeback beyond the studio. Paul released two tunes in 2019, displaying the slick soulful sound that he had been developing, before more silence.
Due to the leak and his then solo production style, Jai Paul had never actually performed live. Out of nowhere, at the start of 2023, his name was emblazoned on the Coachella lineup in the second biggest font size. The festival took place almost exactly ten years after the leak. Blog music fans lost their mind with the re-emergence of a cherished artist who had been denied a proper introduction, symbolically timed.
Months later and Jai Paul had been announced to play over here in Melbourne, baffling considering how few dates were on the tour. And so late last year, I’m at 170 Russell, a peculiar underground mid sized venue, for a show I never bothered dreaming of. It’s the third night of three, palpable anticipation in the audience. Surusinghe, a club DJ from Melbourne now based in London, plays slamming tunes between sets. The other support act is Fabiana Palladino, a little known graduate from the Paul Institute. A handful of her tunes had been released, generating a bit of online buzz. Tonight she performs alone with a keyboard and sampler a set of unreleased tunes that get me hyped (the self titled album came out in April this year). Intricate R&B tunes with the shuffling pop styling of another era.
There are so few photos of Jai Paul that nobody really knows what he looks like these days. The band come out first, Palladino and brother A.K. included, getting into the groove before Paul appears. Despite the mystique, he doesn’t come across as a rockstar, with his beaming smile in response to the crowd’s screams. All the old songs, hazy in their unfinished state, are transformed into an accomplished band performance. While it doesn’t sound like how we remembered, this is perhaps what Paul envisioned all along. Each tune has a punter gesturing to their friend that it’s their favourite. My turn comes with “Genevieve” and it’s joyous to see all the nerds with their hands in the air. The goofy samples that defined his sound sneak into the mix, providing a vital link to his earlier kaleidoscopic recordings.
It’s a surreal evening that I don’t think will happen again here. No new music has been released and very limited performances since. Best to check in with the Paul Institute from time to time.