Dorothea Paas

During the ten-year buildup to her 2021 debut, Dorothea Paas became somewhat of an indie rock journeywoman, loaning her talents as a singer and guitarist to acts like Jennifer Castle, U.S. Girls, and Badge Epoque Ensemble while logging plenty of road miles and quietly refining her own material via a series of self-released cassettes. Her dulcet vocals, unique melodic shifts, and lyrical vulnerability recall the early work of fellow Canadian Joni Mitchell, though her sonic temperament speaks of an allegiance to experimental art rock. By the time Paas finally crafted Anything Can't Happen, her first full-length album, she'd not only won the admiration of her peers but amassed the maturity and depth of a far more seasoned artist. Meanwhile, she continued to experiment on lo-fi EPs like No Loose Ends (2016) and One for the Road (2018), which ranged from murky lo-fi melancholia to dashing post-rock and rugged folk. Eventually, Toronto indie Telephone Explosion approached her about putting out a proper album, and she headed with her band to Hamilton's Fort Rose Studio to begin tracking. Finished in Toronto and mixed by Max Turnbull (Slim Twig), 2021's Anything Can't Happen tied all the disparate pieces of her career together into an intriguing whole of intricate folk-based songwriting and inventive, textural rock. - Timothy Monger