Doe Paoro has a ghost-like, chiming voice, clean and minimalistic production, and a Wisconsin-based backbone. For her upcoming EP, Ink on the Walls, Paoro and her creative partner Adam Rhodes came to Wisconsin to work with Bon Iver’s camp — a supposedly environmentally-inspired record, Ink on the Walls will reflect the stark beauty and silence of Wisconsin’s winters.
Although the Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter’s work is chilling, it’s an absolute pleasure to listen to. Her single from Ink on the Walls, “Walking Backwards,” is epically tragic, breathing melancholy on both a personal and a palatial scale. Paoro’s lyrics paint a picture of a world in a deep depression, where she is as lost as the rest: “The color’s all gone with the birds for a new sun / what will become of me?” Her vocals float above clean synth, drawing us in, building, and pushing us throughout the track. Sadness never sounded so good.