Biography
Esme Patterson crafts songs that merge light and ironic indie folk with polished Baroque dream pop textures. One of the originators of the expansive Denver folk collective Paper Bird, she stepped into solo work in 2012 through the album All Princes, I. Later solo releases We Were Wild in 2016 and There Will Come Soft Rains in 2020 brought expansive synthesizers and chiming guitars into her sound.
Raised in nearby Boulder, Colorado, Patterson and her sister Genevieve absorbed vintage R&B records during childhood before discovering folk and Americana influences. Joining forces with siblings Mark and Sarah Anderson, the Patterson sisters launched Paper Bird in 2006, emphasizing a blend of chamber folk and ornate Baroque pop. The ensemble issued multiple well-received independent albums, maintained a steady touring schedule, and created original scores for the Ballet Nouveau Colorado dance company. Though Patterson had appeared sporadically as a solo performer, she accumulated a set of songs by 2012 that felt unsuitable for the band and proceeded to record her debut solo effort All Princes, I. Drawing from the open structures of Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks and Feist’s Metals, the project featured contributions from fellow Denver musicians Nathaniel Rateliff and members of the Czars. Paper Bird delivered their fourth album, Rooms, in 2013, while Patterson simultaneously began composing material for her next solo outing, the 2014 concept album Woman to Woman, which revisits narratives from well-known tracks such as Lead Belly’s “Irene,” Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” and Elvis Costello’s “Veronica” through a female viewpoint. We Were Wild from 2016 mixed buoyant garage-pop with retro-country tones reminiscent of Caitlin Rose and Cat Power, whereas the 2020 release There Will Come Soft Rains employed airy, synth-driven arrangements to examine love, relationships, and ecological concerns.
Raised in nearby Boulder, Colorado, Patterson and her sister Genevieve absorbed vintage R&B records during childhood before discovering folk and Americana influences. Joining forces with siblings Mark and Sarah Anderson, the Patterson sisters launched Paper Bird in 2006, emphasizing a blend of chamber folk and ornate Baroque pop. The ensemble issued multiple well-received independent albums, maintained a steady touring schedule, and created original scores for the Ballet Nouveau Colorado dance company. Though Patterson had appeared sporadically as a solo performer, she accumulated a set of songs by 2012 that felt unsuitable for the band and proceeded to record her debut solo effort All Princes, I. Drawing from the open structures of Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks and Feist’s Metals, the project featured contributions from fellow Denver musicians Nathaniel Rateliff and members of the Czars. Paper Bird delivered their fourth album, Rooms, in 2013, while Patterson simultaneously began composing material for her next solo outing, the 2014 concept album Woman to Woman, which revisits narratives from well-known tracks such as Lead Belly’s “Irene,” Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” and Elvis Costello’s “Veronica” through a female viewpoint. We Were Wild from 2016 mixed buoyant garage-pop with retro-country tones reminiscent of Caitlin Rose and Cat Power, whereas the 2020 release There Will Come Soft Rains employed airy, synth-driven arrangements to examine love, relationships, and ecological concerns.
Albums
