El Perro Del Mar
The Swedish singer debunks the misconception that her debut is about a breakup, gushes about Martha Plimpton, and reveals her mantra
By Genie Williamson
Published: November 20th, 2006 | 2:20pm
Sarah Assbring is a 29-year-old autodictat from Gothenburg who makes gloomy-sweet indie pop under the name El Perro del Mar. Assbring’s voice sounds like Isobel Campbell channeled through the Ronettes. Her eponymous debut — heavily influenced by ’60s pop music — manages to bring fresh pathos to “bee bop a lu las” and “shoo be doos.” While her delivery and lyrics could make a fitting soundtrack to overdose by, a hearty dose of self-consciousness saves her from lapsing into self-parody.
El Perro del Mar has been getting raves since her record was released in Europe in Spring 2006. To celebrate the album’s U.S. release on November 7, 2006, she performed four consecutive shows at four different NYC venues. I spoke with her on the third day of her outing.
What’s your musical training?
I took piano lessons when I was a kid and I stopped at quite an early age. After than, I’ve been self-studied. I try to explore as many instruments as I can and do the best with what I know.
I read that you sing in a church choir. Do you still do that?
I don’t have the time to do that anymore. I miss it a lot. I really want to go back, but it’s quite difficult for me. I’m gonna write this choral piece, and then I’m gonna do my part. I miss it so much.
You’ve said you don’t listen to much contemporary music -— seems like you weren't kidding.
I find it easier to make my own music not being involved so much in contemporary music. I don’t know if that sounds weird, but it’s easier to keep focused on what you’re doing, to find your own sound listening to things that maybe aren’t as full of reference as contemporary music usually is. I think [contemporary music] is full of references and packed with trends, and I try to keep away from all of that.
Do you feel that your sound is more influenced by American culture or by European culture?
It is impossible for me to say that, because I try to be open to whatever, wherever it comes from. I love the craftsmanship of the ‘50s and the ‘60s in the U.S., of the whole sound of music that was made [back then]. It was so innovative and so many good people [were] working and creating. The same goes for music in France. I just pick my inspiration from wherever I can get it, if it speaks to me.
How’s New York?
We’re staying at a perfect hotel, and all the shows have been really, really great. I’m loving it!
The first show we did was at a really small café in Williamsburg. It was full. That was really exciting. It was like a rehearsal, but it was perfect. Last night, we played at Joe’s Pub, and it was sold out.
I heard Martha Plimpton really wanted to meet you and stood in the front row at one of your shows. Had you seen Goonies?
Yeah, but I’ve seen other films with her I’ve liked more. I didn’t know her by name, but when she came up to me, I immediately recognized her. It’s very funny, because I love her onscreen, so it was an honor for her to come by and say hello.
So you’re going to tour the U.S. in the spring of 2007?
Me and Jens [Lekman] are going to tour together in Brazil. The tour in the U.S. is not set yet. I’m not sure what it’s gonna look like.
I’ve heard you’re working with Jens on his new record. You’re producing it?
It’s a kind of co-producing. He’s doing most of the stuff by himself, but I’m working alongside him, helping him out with things. We’re recording a lot of stuff in my studio.
Is there a very tight-knit musical community in Gothenburg?
Sweden and Gothenburg, especially — it’s a small city — you’re bound to know each other and you’re bound to work together sooner or later. I think it’s a very open and generous atmosphere. There are a lot of things happening. I don’t know, really, why that is.
Do you feel like you’re part of a movement?
I wouldn’t say that I’m a part of any movement, actually. When I recorded the album, I was very isolated, and I was very out of any context at all. It was just me. It would be quite wrong to put it in any movement. I gather it’s easy to think of it from the outside looking in as something happening all at the same time, but no!
People have categorized El Perro del Mar as a breakup record. Is that accurate?
I’ve read that and heard that. It’s not at all a breakup thing. If it’s a breakup thing, it’s more like a breakup with a kind of identity or a relationship that I used to have with myself, or an older entity that I had to deal with and say goodbye to. In that sense, it’s a breakup, but not in a love relationship [sense].
What sort of identity do you mean?
The old identity that I thought I had was very destructive and negative. I just had to move on and start a new life, a new way of making music, and a new way of expressing myself. That was completely revolutionizing for me, to be able to write the songs I did and that I still do.
It was a whole new way of looking on music and looking on life and myself — more open-minded and positive, feeling that I had the strength and the ability to stand on my own and write the music myself and do everything myself.
What’s your favorite song on the record?
That would be so difficult to say! I feel so strongly for all the songs. It’s been quite a while since I recorded the album. They’ve aged so much since then.
“Candy” is one of the songs I wrote quite early, and it means much. It’s very condensed, very telling of the way that I was feeling at the time [when] I started to write the music, and it speaks of what all the songs are about on the record.
The song that’s been getting the most attention here has been “God Knows (You Gotta Give to Get).”
That’s one of the latest-written songs. In Sweden, it was released as an EP, and then it was put to the U.S. album afterward. I love that song! It’s one of my favorite songs. I think that’s another [song] that expresses the way I feel towards myself nowadays. It’s like coming out of the blackness and the rough times and realizing that there are so many things that you can do and there are so many ways you can live life. It’s about repeating that all over again until you completely understand.
That [repetition] is what I have to do. That’s the way I write music and the thing I need to do to myself. I really tend to fully grasp the meaning of things, in thinking and living and writing [through repetition].
Does that mean “you gotta give to get” is your mantra?
Yeah, I guess so!
Issue #30
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