Sarah Assbring (El Perro Del Mar) and Jacob Haage (Bandjo) have joined forces to create something new, and something that sounds like it could be from World of Warcraft: Fantasy Coloc.

“We have found a common genre and mood that we want to play out there. A vision to take the usual DJ-thing and create something more live like.” – Jacob Haage, Bandjo

They’ve put together a mix that you can hear below:

Fantasy Coloc love mix by Fantasy Coloc

Tracklist:
1. Pleasure Zone – Fantasy
2. Mark Imperial – J’adore Danser
3. Fred Brown – Roman Days
4. Kevin Irving – Children of the night
5. ESP – It’s you
6. Virgo – Under you
7. Virgo – Ride

Look out for live showings soon…

Two charming Swedish groups found a welcoming and receptive audience at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis Tuesday evening, as Taken By Trees and El Perro Del Mar both delivered winsome sets that buoyed the spirits of all in attendance. The spotlight was placed squarely on both Victoria Bergsman and Sarah Assbring, the two enchanting frontwomen who are the creative architects of both groups, and during their respective sets they shared both an endearing spirit as well as the same backing band (with Taken By Trees adding one more guitarist to the bass, guitar and drums set up of El Perro Del Mar). It was a night filled with uplifting, ebullient songs that were never dragged down with self-seriousness or any posturing-it was carefree Swedish pop music at its best, and resonated well with the leisurely crowd.

El Perro Del Mar opened up the show with Sarah Assbring nowhere in sight, as the three backing musicians created the reggae tinged groove of ‘Let Me In’ that eventually brought Sarah dancing onstage. Assbring picked up an acoustic guitar on ‘Change Of Heart,’ which added a bit of depth to the track, and gently eased the set forward as she became more comfortable on stage. The band really hit their stride on a dynamic version of ‘L Is For Love,’ which had Assbring channeling a bit of Ian Curtis with her dance moves, and when she chimed in on guitar halfway through, it really fortified the propulsive, lively song.

As the group proceeded to play ‘Gotta Get Smart,’ Assbring had some technical problems with her guitar that unfortunately resulted in the band dropping the song from the set, with the drummer joking that the tour was taking its toll on their equipment. The show went on (it must!) with Sarah simply focusing on her vocals and forgoing her acoustic support. She joked after the skipped ‘Smart,’ that “I’ve got plenty of other songs about love,” before the band settled into the 50′s-flavored sound of ‘It Is Something.’ Assbring’s vocals, which were pitch perfect all evening long, at times were reminiscent of Lykke Li, another Swedish chanteuse, especially on the delicately gorgeous ‘A Better Love.’ I was hoping that the cover of the xx’s ‘Shelter’ that the band has been doing lately would find its way into the set, and I was pleased when they played it near the end of their performance. EPDM’s version has just as much tension and mood as the original, and is driven by the tight rhythm section, who kept the sound steady all evening long. After a tender version of ‘Heavenly Arms’ closed out their brief but amiable set, the band left to a warm applause.

Taken By Trees

Loads of incense were brought on stage before Taken By Trees set began, to not only create an inviting atmosphere but to also shroud the stage in smoke. Adding to the mood was an introductory video that appeared to be travel movies from Pakistan, with Sufi music accompaniment. It turned a bit ominous when parts of the video featured a mass self-flagellation in a city square, but returned to more scenic views before the band took the stage. They eased into the wistful strains of ‘To Lose Someone’ in near darkness, as various images continued to be shown on the backdrop, augmenting their entire performance. Victoria seemed genuinely pleased with the nice turn out (perhaps due to the small crowds for past Concretes shows in the city), and grew more comfortable with the audience as the set went on- even asking if someone could get her more wine halfway through the performance, which someone quickly made happen.

The bands jaunty cover of Animal Collective’s ‘My Girls,’ which Bergsman reworks as ‘My Boys’ was a fun surprise, and was one of the early set highlights, along with a capricious take on ‘Anna’ which quickly followed. TBT’s music is quite diaphanous and emotive, and both those qualities were threaded throughout their captivating performance. Victoria had bells around her ankles that playfully kept time with the songs as she gracefully glided about the stage, adding a bit of a childlike, organic feel to the music. She also dedicated ‘Greyest Love Of All’ to her cat Jacob, her “dearest furry friend,” with the performance enhanced by images of who I can only guess was the feline itself.

The songs were much more beat driven and danceable than the mostly spare arrangements found on TBT’s records, and that element helped breathe some added life into the material, giving songs like ‘Too Young’ and ‘Day By Day’ a more spirited rhythm and pulse. ‘Lost And Found’ was gorgeous, with Bergsman’s lovely voice ringing throughout the tiny club. She thanked Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell for writing the song for her, and I must admit to thinking many times during the performance how similar their vocal styles are.

After a vibrant version of ‘Watch The Waves’ closed out the main set, Victoria came back out with just the guitarist and delivered an acoustic rendering of ‘Tidens Gang,’ which was sung in Swedish. She said the lyrics were about the passage of time, and how we must all hold on to the moment, a genuine sentiment no matter what the language. The brisk set concluded with the hopeful and radiant ‘Summer Sigh,’ which certainly caused a good deal of the audience, who are plenty sick of the Minnesota winter, to think of warmer times. And as the crowd made their way out into the cold of the February evening, they at least had the blissful, sunny Swedish pop music of El Perro Del Mar and Taken By Trees lingering in their ears, transporting them to a far brighter place.

mp3:> El Perro Del Mar: “Let Me In (Nhessingtons Remix)”
mp3:> Taken By Trees: “Anna”

El Perro Del Mar’s third album, the rather fine Love Is Not Pop finally got a US release this week via the wonderful Control Group. Originally released in Scandinavia back in April through The Concretes’ label Licking Fingers, hopefully the record – which was produced by Studio’s Rasmus Hägg – will get the attention it deserves. Perhaps her most focused and realized record to date, the combination of Sarah Assbring’s love lorn lyrics and Hägg’s pristine production makes this one of the most perfect pop records of the year. Plus, it’s nice to see Hägg step into the limelight a little, his partner in Studio – Dan Lissvik – is praised constantly for his amazing work on the latest records by Lake Heartbeat, Taken By Trees and TLOBF Recommended act Fontän whilst Rasmus’ incredible work occasionally gets overlooked. Tip of the day: use the power of the internet to find his hour long mix entitled ‘Mother Earth Will Swallow You, Lay Your Body Down’ – it will make your week, trust me. That, or just go out and buy everything Studio have done.

Anyhow, back to Ms Assbring. The first single to be lifted from Love Is Not Pop is the glorious ‘Change Of Heart’. Here, director Filip Nilsson guides us through the inspiration behind the video.

The idea of this video came into my head when I was visiting Lido in Paris which I do 3-4 times every year. This particular time there was one act that really hit me. Sandor Vlah and Gyula Takaes a k a The Golden Power. They are from Budapest, Hungary. Two men, probably the strongest men I have ever seen. Balancing on each other in such a incredible way that I thought that the gravity had stopped working. Was it fake? How can they move in slow motion? Many questions, no answers.

When listening to the El Perro del Mar track (“Change of heart”) a few weeks later for the first time it hit me even harder. Such a brilliant track needed a certain visual treatment.

Just one big, very big task to solve. Where are Sandor and Gyula? We tried to get hold of them via Lido in Paris. But no one did know where they where. We searched for them for 4 months, finally through some local contacts in Budapest we got hold of them. Sandor (the big one) liked the idea.

When we finally could see the amazing footage together with the music it felt like we got struck by the lightning of love.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The US edition of Love Is Not Pop comes with 4 bonus tracks: L Is For Love (Low Motion Disco’s Additional Love Remix), Change Of Heart (J Rintamäki Remix), Let Me In (Nhessingtons Remix), Gotta Get Smart (Identity Remix). Even if you own the Scandinavian version of the album, it’s worth buying again for the Nhessingtons Remix. Their label – Force-Majeure can do no wrong at the moment, literally everything they put out is gold.

Not had enough El Perro for one day? Check out her performance from the Way Out West Festival in Gothenburg from August.

For more info on Sarah, check out her official site here, or her personal blog here.

She’s currently on tour in the States with Peter Bjorn and John, I’m just praying she comes back to the UK soon.

Nov. 7: Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
Nov. 8: Philadelphia, PA @ Theater of Living Arts
Nov. 9: New York, NY @ Webster Hall
Nov. 11: Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Theatre
Nov. 12: Chicago, IL @ Metro
Nov. 13: St. Louis, MO @ Gargoyle Club
Nov. 14: Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
Nov. 15: Austin, TX @ La Zona Rosa
Nov. 17: Tuscon, AZ @ Rialto Theater
Nov. 18: San Diego, CA @ House Of Blues
Nov. 19: San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
Nov. 20: San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
Nov. 21: Los Angeles, CA @ Club Nokia
Nov. 23 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hotel Cafe (headlining show)

It is only once you hear Love Is Not Pop that you realise how ominous and significant its title is. El Perro del Mar, AKA Sarah Assbring, is known for her sunny pop confections and this new mini-album is largely a dramatic about-turn. Upon realising that, the title takes it on momentous importance – after all the all the bouncy accessibility of songs like “God Knows (You’ve Got to Give to Get)” from the self-titled album, it’s as if Assbring is now saying “Love is not pop, this is the real thing now.”

Accordingly, Love Is Not Pop is a consistently subdued record. Recorded with Rasmus Hagg, one half of Swedish cult heroes Studio, the sound has taken on a minimalist, less-is-more, and slightly electro-tinged texture. Some has remained from past El Perro del Mar exploits, like the repetitive lyrics, for example – but with the melodies and instrumentation being so much less bouncy and catchy here, that repetition becomes a chore as Assbring repeats the same lines over and over again over smatterings of sometimes retro-sounding synths, bass and occasionally drums. Everything is extremely hushed, giving us an intimate, sensual, reflective set of songs far removed from much of the music which has brought El Perro del Mar to this point. At their best, these songs can alternately make the most of that subdued atmosphere, as on “Change of Heart” or “Heavenly Arms”, but frequently overriding that is a feeling of half-heartedness and soulessness to this new direction. “Let Me In” in particular sounds like a discarded Stevie Nicks 80s B-side, a nothingy number which unfortunately shows that with this new, more “adult” style, El Perro del Mar has largely ended up creating less, rather than more affecting music.

It’s easy to imagine that a lot of people will see Love Is Not Pop as a rather pretentious, patronising successor to earlier Assbring efforts, but I’m not sure that’s really true. It’s a record which has made an earnest attempt to bring the sound forward, but it’s quite an extreme attempt which is likely to alienate some of those who had been enthusiastically following up to now. Upbeat pop is not inherently better than worldly, slow introspection. But when the former was done so well, and the latter sparkles only partly, it leaves Love Is Not Pop less than entirely recommendable.
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El Perro del Mar on MySpace

El Perro Del Mar, by Johanna Hedborg

Pop music is a strange little thing, isn’t it?

Swedish music is really popular these days; American magazines write articles about Gothenburg, Air France get to tour in Russia, English kids write about The Tough Alliance in their blogs, journalists write about the Swedish renaissance in pop.

Where do you think acts like The Embassy, The Tough Alliance and Studio got their inspiration from? That’s right. England. Madchester, Post punk, indie pop, acid house – all British influences.

So, it’s kind of strange that Swedish bands listened to English music originally, tried to sound like them, and then some years later the English found Swedish pop music and fell in love with it.

That’s the really simplified version. It’s not quite that straight forward, though. The interesting part is that Swedish pop music doesn’t sound that British at all. And perhaps that’s the attraction.

It’s like when the old explorers saw an unknown animal, like a seal or a whale, they told their families and friends about it when they got home and for every person that re-told the story, it got worse. Years later, the description that started off as a seal, turned into some kind of hideous beast with ten heads and wing… or somthing. You catch my drift.

The bored Swedish kids, that later became pop bands, listened to New Order and Happy Mondays and tried to sound like them, but they couldn’t. Instead, it became something else. It evolved and got mixed with a tradition of Swedish music and that’s where I’ll begin today.

One of the most criticly acclaimed new acts from Sweden is Dan Lissvik and Rasmus Hägg, also known as Studio. They’re a great example of the above theory.

Studio is by far one of the most interesting bands ever to come out of Sweden. They build their world of pop just the way it’s supposed to be done. If you listen carefully, you can hear echoes of their old record collections, but it’s the context that’s changed, and has become extremly contemporary – aware of the past but gazing at the future.

Dan Lissvik of Studio released his first solo album not too long ago, called 7 trx + Intermission. It’s an amazing album. Rasmus Hägg and El Perro Del Mar have just released an album called Love Is Not Pop (out now on Licking Fingers), and for those who haven’t yet heard it, it’s just beautiful. Also, Dan just gave away a previously unreleased song for free called ‘Practise’, and as if that wasn’t enough, he also just remixed Fever Ray’s fabulous ‘When I Grow Up’. Look ‘em up.

Martin Hwasser is a young man who last year released a single called ‘About That Promise’. A fifteen minute long adventure that takes us above the mountains, down the hills and through the jungle. Driven by a slamming piano, ‘About That Promise’ is an impressive piece of soundtrack-like pop. Martin is also a member of the more indie pop oriented band Most Valuable Players. Having only released this one song, Hwasser definitely sets a high standard for his coming releases. Although I have no doubt that he will deliver songs even better in the future.

Sebastian Hedberg and Victor Nilsson, both members of MFMB, (who I wrote about last time), have a project called Private Stash that takes off where Hwasser left us, but with a slighly different angle. Less mountains and more Hacienda. Some time after ‘About That Promise’, Private Stash released their first piece called ‘When My Condition Is Alright’. They too have only released one official song, which is as frustating as it is exciting. Hopefully Private Stash will release more material this summer.

Sometimes, Private Stash remind me of my old favourites Tangerine Dream. Which brings us round nicely to one of the most exciting new labels in Sweden who just happen share their name with one of Tangerine Dreams best albums – Force Majeure.

Force Majeure have currently three acts signed; Bandjo, Nhessingtons and Museum Of Bella Artes. Bandjo just released a new 12” called ‘Fátima’. A record that, honestly, has some of the most impressive and ambitious work I’ve heard in a long time. The title track, ‘Fátima’, starts off in a post-punk fashion before moving on to a cosmic disco vibe, over to a 70’s kind of feel and then back again. This record is a must have. It’s a stunning piece of work. Remember their name, because these guys will be big. In the meantime, I’m waiting for new releases by the mysterious Nhessingtons and Museum Of Bella Artes.

And, finally, a quick recommendation for those who enjoy Studio. I highly recommend ROOS. One of the members from electro pop duo Cat5, Christina Roos, solo porject. Definitly worth checking out.

There you are. Now, I leave you with a quote until next time: “Try making a ring-tone out of this you bastards”.

Wow, this was totally unexpected but highly pleasant announcement! The amazingly talented Swedish songstress Sarah Asbring (or El Perro del Mar as she’s more commonly known) is releasing a brand new record on April 1st. That news in itself is exciting enough, but add to the equation that El Perro has teamed up with Rasmus Hägg (one half of of TLOBF faves Studio) to make Love Is Not Pop, the anticipation levels literally go through the roof (in fact, I very nearly fell of my chair with glee on reading the news).

A track off the album (released via Swedish label Licking Fingers) is streaming on MySpace right now. ‘Change Of Heart’ is still very much an El Perro song – her soft croon wooing you in a single heartbeat, but the production moves away from the familiar retro sounding doo-wop of her previous two albums and instead flirts with slow, sensual grooves – reminiscent of Air. It really is a stunning introduction of what could be one of the collaborations of the year.

Listen here.

Whereas Arcade Fire utilized the pipe organ’s inherent cathartic power on Neon Bible’s ‘Intervention’ and ‘My Body Is A Cage’, Sweden’s Sarah Assbring plays the type of subtle organ you’d expect an elderly lady to twiddle on during a lazy afternoon liturgy. You can almost feel the warm yellow shafts of light gleaming off her Wurlitzer on drowsy melancholic choir mantras like ‘Happiness Won Me Over’ and album opener ‘Jubilee’. For her second album as El Perro del Mar Assbring abandons the saccharine sweet Phil Spector production style she adopted for her buoyant breakthrough self-titled album in 2006. The downcast ice queen flits around quite a bit but ultimately sacrifices the exacting pop sensibility she’s cultivated thus far for a cohesive mood.

The cohesive mood just so happens to tie closely to that of an apologetic parishioner finding solace in music. The modern music listener, regardless of religious affiliation often pines for the inherent communalism of nature without even realizing it. Assbring just draws an artistic link between the two and underscores her position with the quintessential pop song theme – lost love. This all sounds grand on paper but her aspirations become missed opportunities due to sleepy lyricism.

‘Inner Island’ is at best, monotonous whilst ‘The Sum Is An Old Friend’ and instrumental ‘Inside the Golden Egg’ come off as cheerless and truncated missives. ‘From the Valley to the Stars’ tinkling apprehension also misfires. It aims to soar into the heavens but like the album it appears on its weighted down by the anchor of monotony. The woodwinds and strange electronics that may have been a fine surface for a song only weigh down ‘You Belong to the Sky Now’.

The fluffy cloud epistles of yore are sadly rare on From the Valley. ‘Into the Sunshine’ is a sitar-tinged sashay through the flowers whilst ‘You Can’t Steal A Gift’ and ‘Somebody’s Baby’ resurrects some of the doo-wop elegance heard on El Perro del Mar. The latter song’s walking piano notes drape the biting jealousy you would loathe to be tangled in as holy garments to dance in. ‘Glory To The World’ continues the naïve and world weary lover-cum-believer. Organs softly drone and woodwinds chirp as Assbring sings about the clouds with “funny shapes“. The strange soul backup vocal outré contributes something unforeseen on a dialed-in album.

That seems to be the bizarre emotional norm on an album that paints itself into an awkward and self-afflicted corner. Like the strange religious practice held most famously by Martin Luther, From the Valley seems to hold tight to the old adage that cleansing the soul comes only through pain – in this case the artistic variety. Unlike other modern bloodletting albums, From the Valley to the Stars spends too much time in the ditches.
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[Download From The Valley To The Stars]

Links
El Perro del Mar [official site] [myspace] [20 questions]

Queen of heartbreak, El Perro Del Mar aka Sarah Assbring has announced she will be joining fellow Swede Lykke Li for a string of UK dates this coming June. Sarah will bring her heart-wrenching, beautiful overtures to the following venues:

2 Jun Night & Day Manchester w/ Lykke Li
3 Jun Hi-Fi Club Leeds w/ Lykke Li
6 Jun Albert Brighton w/ Lykke Li
7 Jun Stealth Nottingham w/ Lykke Li
8 Jun King Tuts Glasgow w/ Lykke Li
10 Jun Jericho Tavern Oxford w/ Lykke Li
11 Jun ICA London w/ Lykke Li

The dates coincide with the release of Sarah’s second full length on Memphis Industries, From The Valley To The Stars on May 19th.

Look out for a review of her latest album soon on TLOBF…

The wonderful El Perro del Mar releases her new album From The Valley To The Stars on 27th February via Licking Fingers records. ‘How Did We Forget’ will be the first single and is set to be released two weeks before on the 13th February. The single is available to stream right here. Without doubt one of my favourite female artists around today, I think you’ll agree it is really quite special. Here’s what Miss Assbring has to say about the new release:

I wanted to make something as unfashionable as an album in the classic sense of the word – in terms of its composition and the idea of a theme. The theme itself was initially something as simple yet complex as heaven and it led me into a wide and seemingly endless search for a means, a language in which to express myself. Although during this time I was, even though I mostly didn’t realize it, following a certain train of thought – that of love, grief and loss, solace and hope, deepest despair and wildest childish euphoria – to the lowest and the highest of heights.
In many ways one could say that ‘From the Valley to the Stars’ is created out of an intellectual idea – the music turned up only after the language, the literary as well as the harmonic, was created. And at that moment it was as if the music did not belong to me. As if someone else had written it. In some strange way I felt as if it had existed all along. Somewhere. In the ground? In the heavens? Just like when you start humming a tune you’re not sure where you picked up or where you heard it before. This is the way I think that which we often call ‘folk music’ works – like timeless melodies striking something deep within us; from deep down in the soil, from high up in the sky.
Now I am not saying that my idea was to make folk music, but I was searching for that timelessness; the grand mystery of it all that has been ringing within our hearts since the beginning of time. I wanted to make something that in its character might appear more like a hymn or a psalm but in a pop costume. But more than that, I wanted to make something completely void of cynicism and bitterness.

As far as possible I tried to let the recording process be as free and organic as possible. Many takes are first ones. In contrary to my first album which generally was guitar oriented, I mostly play the piano or organ on this one. I myself have been in charge of all recording, production and mixing. Contributing to the album in an incredibly important way have been guitarist and bassist Jesper Jarold (also known from the Gothenburg based duo Fontän) and Nils Törnqvist on drums. They came into the process when most of the album was finished, though still in a quite chaotic state. Despite that, they managed, with great sensitivity, to grasp what I wanted to achieve. I am forever in their debt. Also contributing in a beautiful way are musicians from The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra Björn Bohlin (oboe), Charles Deramus (double bass) and Lisa Ford (horn) as well as musicians and friends alike Kristin Lidell (trumpet) and Björn Synneby(vocal and sitar), he also known from the duo pacific!.

With love
El Perro del Mar / Sarah Assbring

El Perro answered our 20 Questions some months ago, check out her answers here.

Swedish songstress extroadinaire Sarah Assbring recently took time out from recording her brand new album (tentatively titled From The Valley To The Stars) to answer our 20 Questions. The usual quick fire responses these interviews normally generate were replaced with perhaps the most incisive answers to date. Ladies and gentlemen we invite you to step inside the mind of El Perro Del Mar…

1. Describe your sound in 3 words.
Pensive, escapist and happy within the monotony.
2. What would be your ideal holiday?
I’m hoping my ideal holiday will be the travel I will make to southern India in October. It’s been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember to visit India and now I’m actually about to do it. I’m just going to be travelling around, to see and experience as much as I can.
3. Whats the best cure for a hangover?
A freshly pressed juice with a lot of fruits and vegetables such as oranges, lemons, carrots and beetroots and some ginger. To drink preferably the same night right before going to bed.
4. What’s on your rider?
Absolutely no bottled water. Nuts and fruits, bread and hoummus, pencils and newspapers, herbal tea and tap water.
5. How do you get ready for a live show?
I don’t really have any specific routine that I do before a show. I just try to make sure I have some time on my own to try to focus on what goes on inside. Other than that I like to check everything into every last detail, in a completely obsessive way. That in itself is a routine, no?
6. Favourite song to play live?
‘I can’t talk about it’ has always been a favourite. I’ve also been playing a song by the Velvet Underground’s that’s called ‘I found a reason’ and it’s always a true pleasure to play that song. It’s such a beautiful song and it has the magic of always feeling new to me.
7. When was the last time you told a lie?
Oh, I’m a social coward so I tell lies all the time just to avoid too much contact with other people. I tell them so often I don’t even think about it, I guess.
8. Who would win in a fight, a stoat or a goat and why?
I guess it depends on the individual animal but I do think the stoat would win because the goat would eventually choose to flee rather than continue fighting.
9. What was the last album you bought?
‘The magic of believing’ with Dionne Warwick from 1969.
10. If you could rid the world of one song – what would it be?
All songs by Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas or just all songs by any member of the Black Eyed Peas in general.
11. Who would play you in a film based upon your life?
Stephen Fry. Can’t think of any woman that would fit the part.
12. Dead or alive. What 5 acts would you have play with you at a festival.
Ravi Shankar, Edith Piaf, Serge Gainsbourg, Miles Davis and Daft Punk.
13. Desert Island Disc? Pick only one.
Bob Marley’ ‘Survival’.
14. What’s your most memorable on the road story?
Looking back at the very beginning of El Perro Del Mar, I remember playing at a small club in a city in Sweden called Kalmar. The show was arranged by this sweet high school girl and she took such good care of me, worried about people showing up or not and so on and then when the show was over she closed up the club and then her dad came and picked us up to drive us to their home out on the island Öland which is connected to the main land by this long bridge. It was very dark and foggy and I didn’t have any clue of where I was or how I got there. I slept in her elder brother’s room that night, after having had a sandwich and tea with her parents in their kitchen, talking about life and other things. Later that night I woke up blinded by this strange light coming from the outside. I realized it was a solar eclipse which made the whole sky look metallic and sharp. I remember the whole experience as something very surreal. Standing there in the window, in this house in the middle of the night somewhere out on this wind ridden island and just thinking how bizarre and amazing it all was.
15. If your life flashed before your eyes, what would be the highlights?
Long walks with different persons around forests, endless streets in cities and other places around the world. Such walking and talking for hours in the forest with my grand father when I was a child, walks with my love in the night on a street when the city’s waking up, walks on a dry gravel road with a dear friend you haven’t seen in a long time, walks with a stranger in unknown European cities talking about life and then parting never to meet again. Memories such as those, like just taking a walk with a person talking about anything and everything, seem like the best moments when you come to think of them. And, the best thing about it is that it’s those very moment that seem not so grand or memorable that stick to your mind. Because they’re just natural and unfeigned.
16. Do you read your own reviews?
Yes, if I stumble upon any I read them, if they’re good. If they’re bad I stop reading as soon as I realize where they’re heading. Bad reviews are of no use to me.
17. Are you a morning bird or a night fox?
I’ve always been a night fox I guess but lately I’ve started to wake up early. I like it. The way you seem to get more things done in the morning.
18. If you could travel back in time where would you set the dial?
The late 18th century Europe, in particular France, just before the French Revolution broke out. I’ve always been very fascinated by periods in history where everything is at an uttermost boiling point, where the status quo of society is about to be turned upside down.
19. What three things could you not live without?
Can’t name anything specific. It’s all or nothing with me.
20. Tell us a fact about yourself we probably don’t already know.
I play alot of flute on the upcoming album.

Links
El Perro Del Mar [official site] [myspace] [journal]

Sarah Assbring (aka El Perro Del Mar) has started her own blog that will document the progress of her new album From The Valley To The Stars (due January ’08). There isn’t too much info on there at present as the site was only created on Sunday, but what she has posted is the new video for Party. Directed by Emily DeGroot, Miss Assbring gives the following synopsis here:

The filmmaker Emily de Groot made this beautiful yet oddly disturbing film to my song Party. It adds a whole new dimension to the song and almost makes me feel like this is what the song is about rather than the initial meaning. It’s a perfect gem and I hope to have the chance to do something together with Emily in the near future.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Keep your eyes peeled for an El Perro Del Mar 20 Questions coming very soon…