Saro (pronounced "sorrow") is a queer musician from Los Angeles who makes electronic pop that pulses with a vulnerable heartbeat.
His two mini-albums thus far, 2016's In Loving Memory and last year's Boy Afraid chart the journey of an artist at odds with his warring internal mind. Nevertheless, Saro's triumph rests in the fact that his music, full of edgy textures, gorgeous turns of phrase, and sweetly melancholy melodies, exists at all.
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He's back now with a new single. "Please," with its meditative electronic beats and sultry vocals, is a heartfelt statement of yearning. "Offering myself for something real, the sacrifice to feel," he sings. "Let me be the weakness in your knees."
But though the song's mood and lyrical content point to being about a lover — which, they very well could be — Saro is actually more empathic here, reflecting somberly on the impermanence of all things in light of our tumultuous social climate.
"'Please' is a reflection of my search for something lasting in this increasingly disposable world," Saro tells PAPER. "The past few years, I've kept a distance between myself and any sort of permanence, caught in a revolving door of temporary homes and temporary people. Temporary has become my constant— the only stability in my life has been music. Now, I find myself reckoning with my growing desire for stability and my willingness to exchange volatility for something more concrete. I wrote this song about longing for something lasting, all the while knowing that nothing is forever."
Listen to the PAPER premiere of Saro's "Please," below.
Photography: Brad Calder