Performing and recording under the alias El Perro del Mar, Sarah Assbring is a Swedish whirlwind, a twirling, swirling dervish of artistic philosophies and visions. Her latest album From the Valley to the Stars is a prolonged polished moment that joins singer and listener beneath the expanse of heaven to stare at the stars. OUTinPerth chatted to the singer in her Scandinavian homeland about…

…the origins of her name

- Advertisement -

‘It’s Spanish. It’s to do with the time a couple of years ago when I had stopped writing music for the first time in my life. I felt very lost and I just happened to go on vacation to Spain and a small stray dog walked up to me and that dog kind of did something to me. It stopped and stared straight ahead and looked at me, it was like it reflected something in myself and I named it on the spot. That name became an expression I held very dearly. I wrote it down in a notebook and it stayed there. Then, when I started writing music again it was just the most natural way to describe the music because I felt the same way for the music as I did for the expression – very precious and honest.’

…the World Wide Web

‘I started out being very much, in some ways, dependent on the Internet and its imprint, its influence and its impact on my music was very important. I have a lot to be thankful for in the way my music was spread on the Internet, but at the same time, I think that when it comes to MySpace and Facebook, there is a certain bizarre feeling when it comes to that feeling of collecting. Human beings – they are numbers. I kind of have this love/hate relationship with it.’

…her spiritual journey to India

‘All the travels that I made touring with the first album had so much to do with or are directly linked to this album, the new album. I found myself in search for something to hold onto, some security or safe place and that turned into a philosophical quest for something. I recall that being on tour I always ended up going to or feeling like I needed to go to a spiritual place or room. After having been on tour, I more and more became interested in India and really, really wanted to go there for the specific reason of the spiritual and philosophical search that I was into, but also consciously for the music and the album that I was doing. Going to India had a lot to do with writing the album.’

…staring at a Swedish sky and deciding to create an album ‘too complex to fully grasp’

‘When you are in need of some kind of comfort or some answers or when you are looking for someone you used to love who isn’t there anymore, you look up to the sky. That in itself is such an eternal kind of human thing to do. There’s something very natural in the way that we look to the sky for answers to our questions. I started to think about that a lot and started kind of researching for the symbolic meaning that heaven has for people. I was especially interested in Swedish folklore tradition – simple melodies, simple songs or poems – about that. I think I wanted to dive into something that was very hard to completely take in or grasp and not come out with any messages or answers to anything. It’s the quest. That’s what it’s about. The quest for answers makes a journey in itself. And that’s where I ended up.’

To find out more about El Perro del Mar and read one of the most interesting musician blogs around, visit www.elperrodelmar.com.