El Perro del Mar, aka Swedish singer-songwriter Sarah Assbring, has been touted with many an adjective- delicate, melancholy and even twee. But her latest album, Love Is Not Pop is a radical departure from the largely acoustic, harmonic endeavors of her 2006 self-titled release; alternately dance-driven, vibrant and deeply mournful, the album is a sharp left turn in the career of an already remarkable musician. Assbring kindly took the time to discuss with Spectrum Culture her album, Lou Reed and touring with friends.
Is this your first time in Portland?
It’s my third time.
And when were the previous two times?
Three years ago and before that about four years.
And you’ve been at the Doug Fir each time? How do you like Portland?
Yeah, I mean, I’ve always just been around this neighborhood. The last time I was here, I took a jog, running with a friend, so I’ve been kind of around this area.
This is largely the only area of town you need to see.
Oh yeah? (laughs)
And a little bit downtown. You can just go down to Powell’s and call it good.
Oh really, really.
How long are you going to be in Portland?
We’re leaving tomorrow, at lunchtime.
You’re going north or south?
We’re going to California.
I’m sorry.
(Laughs) It’s really nice to pass through all different kinds of climates on this tour. California is always nice, just getting a little warmer and warmer. And now we’re here, experiencing some kind of spring, I think. We were in Vancouver last night, it’s also very spring-y.
How has the tour been going?
Very good. It’s a somewhat special tour. I mean, both me and Victoria [Bergsman] in Taken by Trees made our albums at about the same time and we’re close friends, so there was a lot of communication and talk during that time we did our albums and then I think I released my album in Sweden earlier than she did and started playing with my band. And then she released her album, and it happened to be, because we’re all friends, the same band, so when this opportunity came to do this tour here…
It does seem very convenient.
It is a convenient thing! But it’s not just convenient, it could be just convenient, but it’s so much more than that.
Is it comforting to travel with people you know?
It is very comforting, but this is the best musicians I’ve played with, ever, and to play with them here, and also to be able to experience them playing with Victoria and her music, which is very different from what I do… it’s a good mix. A lot of good things.
I actually did a review of Love Is Not Pop, and it really seems different from your previous work.
Yeah, it was a big step. There were a lot of different kind of changes in my life altogether. I took a new path in my life and I did it musically as well.
It seems a lot lusher, as well. Bigger in its sound- was that an inevitable happening?
No, that was what I was going for. What I knew I wanted when I was going through ideas, something that had that lusher, more mysterious grooviness to it. Some kind of mystical grooviness, and also a kind of…I remember I was searching for a way to make analogue sounds, something synthetical that stuck with you. Bringing in the guy I worked with, Rasmus Hägg from Studio, he’s a master at doing that.
Was there a reason why you chose that title for the album?
Yeah, a lot of reasons. I mean, a lot of reasons, but they all point towards the title.
Some people would say pop music is always about love.
Yeah, but it is supposed to have a lot of different kind of meanings and also to be thought of and to be interpreted depending on who you are. For me, I had this idea of being very direct, that was some kind of very instant need that I had, to write songs that were in themselves direct and that had to do with love. Love is to be ever-present what’s going on in my life at that time, both relationships breaking up and new relationships, it was just very dramatic.
The drama was a catalyst, then?
The drama was very much there, yeah. Since I felt like I was basing all different kinds of faces of love at a certain time, where love could be so much more that just these nice, sweet love songs.
Not just Erasure songs?
Exactly. It felt like it was just so fucking much more than just pop. The title in itself is a quote from Last Tango in Paris. During the time when I was writing, I saw that film and the main character says that.
One of the songs on the album, the lyrics are G.K. Chesterton- not exactly an obscure person, but not very well known. What spurred that?
I spent a lot of time in New York, and it was a dark time I was going through. I was living in this apartment which was filled with books, walls filled with books, and I was kind of in this desperate state of getting ideas and I stumbled upon a book by Bruce Weber, who I really, really like, he took a lot of [photographs of] River Phoenix…
In that very brief window of innocence.
Yeah, exactly. Black and white pictures, I love them so much. And inside, there was this beautiful picture of River Phoenix and beside that there was this poem. And I remember, I opened it and happened to stumble upon that poem, the title of it is the same as the song (“It is Something (To Have Wept)”). Sometimes you just stumble upon things that sort of creep into you. I wrote the song then and there. And I didn’t really know so much about Chesterton.
He’s not exactly popular.
Yeah, I know! And I actually wrote, to this, there’s this kind of, what do you call it, like fun “Chesterton’s friends…”
Fan club?
Exactly, some kind of circle of friends or whatever.
He does have a reputation of being very precise in his mannerism. Also, your work does seem very carefully constructed as well. But the other cover that you have on the album is a Lou Reed song.
It was from the exact same time. I had a horrific time in New York. Everything that I thought I was going to do and everything that I thought was going to be possible turned out to not be possible. And I felt I just needed to find some kind of “save my something” and for some reason Lou Reed spoke to me at that time. I had an anthology, collection of his lyrics and I read it, it was close by my side all throughout that time and that was the first time I really got into his lyrical work and noticed, really, really, really started to appreciate the way he writes without listening to the actual music. “Heavenly Arms” was one of those lyrics that seemed to me to be a savior as well. I was wondering what the song would sound like, the way you sometimes read lyrics, what would this song sound like if it was to be put into a melody. And much later, I heard it and it’s a really good song, but the recording of it is not so good.
I was very surprised when I heard it on your album, because that particular album [The Blue Mask] has been pretty important to me. Particularly, that song, I think is one of his most underrated. There’s a lot of sincerity there, which he doesn’t always show.
That I think is what hit me, I’ve always been of aware of that, but reading, just reading lyrics like that can show sincerity, when it comes to Lou Reed. The bluntness, which I really like, because he is always very careful about how he chooses words. Very aware of stories.
It’s unusual for someone as guarded as he is, to tell stories. Your previous albums were more girl-group. Is that something you don’t feel is as relevant anymore?
Yeah, definitely, I feel like I was going through changes in my life, and it’s going to be very present, what kind of music is relevant to me at the time.
What have you been listening to lately?
Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of electronic music. Chicago house, things like that. I wasn’t really into that, at that time, so for me it’s like a new inspiration, it’s usually what gets me going. Exploring something new. Getting crazy about it.
by Nathan Kamal
