El Perro del Mar
2006.06.15
I had downloaded the four tracks available on El Perro del Mar’s website. I had read about her music and about this Sarah Assbring who “sounds so completely bummed out, so miserable in her own skin that even handclaps and tambourines sound like harbingers of doom” (Pitchforkmedia). And I had decided that it was not exactly the kind of music I was looking for at the moment. But it’s not until a friend of mine offered a compilation CD with one of her songs on it that i started listening carefully… and that i realised how beautiful this sadness can be.
Based in Göteborg (again), the sole member of El Perro Del Mar, Sarah, started as an mp3/cdr-artist and released her first songs through the Swedish label Hybris (home of Vapnet, Mont Mardié and many other Swedish acts). After her debut EP released in November 2004, El Perro Del Mar worked with Jens Lekman and together they released a split vinyl single on which Sarah contributed with the song ‘Shake it off’. The single was available in Sweden and in the United States via Jens’ label Secretly Canadian – it was quickly sold out. El Perro Del Mar also went on a short tour in Sweden accompanying Jens around this time. In Spring 2005, a compilation album of all the earlier released tracks, ‘Look it’s El Perro Del Mar’, was released in Sweden. The following summer El Perro Del Mar did quite a few live performances around Sweden for an artist who doesn’t particurlarly enjoy performing live. In December 2005 she put together a pretty special Christmas concert together with the remarkable Jenny Wilson, a 4-piece band and a huge choir. The concert took place at Södra Teatern in Stockholm. On the 10th of April the self entitled album was released in the UK and Europe on the British label Memphis Industries.
So please, don’t be silly, don’t wait as long as i did, and simply enjoy…
