SARO Interview- being homeless, vulnerability, crazy high school house parties, being a gamer

“It was really weird that kids didn’t like me when I was nice to them”

Saro is the moody alt-R&B-pop project of Los Angeles’ Evan Windom, who pairs his soulful falsetto with intricate electronics. While growing up, Windom sang along with his parents’ favorites, which included Annie Lennox, Michael Jackson, Gloria Estefan, and Luther Vandross, but didn’t start making music until he graduated from high school. When he was 19, he began singing and writing with his close friend Simone Battle; in 2014, Windom was about to release an EP under the name Evan Mellows, but Battle’s suicide caused him to rethink his music. Windom tapped into his grief and renamed himself Saro as an homage to the Smiths’ “Pretty Girls Make Graves” (“And sorrow’s native son/He will not smile for anyone”). Eventually, Windom connected with producers Robin Hannibal and David Burris, with whom he founded the recording studio and label Mateo Sound. It was there that they recorded Saro’s debut EP, 2016’s brooding In Loving Memory. The following year, Windom opened for Miguel and appeared on the Flight Facilities track “Stranded” before issuing his second EP, Boy Afraid.

Interview and pics by Lara Santos