El Perro del Mar行事作风十分低调,仅管日前她才於瑞典当地进行多场音乐演出,并与Jens Lekman一块发表作品,不过在她的简介中给予我们的,是一个躲在门后、深居简出的神秘女子。在她的音乐当中,那一丝浮世间的奢靡与凄美,都很难与她那轻柔而飘渺的歌声相作联想。想像只能悠游於音符之间的El Perro del Mar,几分少女心思的顽固笔触。El Perro del Mar随性地将真实生活带进了她的音乐创作之中,不需任何矫情的歌咏。『Look! It's El Perro Del Mar』当中的11首歌曲,无不是她对於心爱宠物(狗)、爱情与落寞与私生活的体悟。即便在Sad一曲中,她的音乐仍没有一丝愁云惨雾。Party的清新吉他伴奏,微婉地道出几许年少轻狂。在Dog一曲中派上全女班和声唱咏,犹如置身仙境。也许在她心中,身为一隻捧在手心的宠儿更加幸福。People令人联想起la-la-las,非但凑上甜美的和声,就连那轻率的吉他刷弹都佈满如斯诗意。与Jens Lekman合作的Shake It Off和声空心吉他与手舞节拍,El Perro del Mar的歌声真摰而俏皮。This Loneliness绝对是El Perro del Mar的优秀民谣调子,其情绪转折与和声段落巧置的天衣无缝。在她My Space/Blog上的一曲It's All Good摇身一变又转为甜美动人的少女心思。浮华奢靡的I Can't Talk About It与萨克斯风、钢琴伴奏的Here Comes That Feeling,仍旧是El Perro del Mar的清新可爱之处。若不是因为『Look! It's El Perro Del Mar』乃作为一张旧作合辑,否则自己还真想将其选为年度最佳唱片。
El Perro del Mar ("The Sea Dog") is the nom de musique of Sarah Assbring, a Swedish pop thrush whose recordings are glorious aural confections that combine Brill Building pop and the influences of Brian Wilson, Burt Bacharach, and Smokey Robinson with lyrics that speak with a sweet, ineffable sadness of the pitfalls of love and life. According to Assbring, the name El Perro del Mar came to her during an ill-fated vacation in Spain; she was alone, depressed, and out of sorts when a stray dog came up to her while she sat on the beach, and the dog's efforts to bond with her inspired her to express her feelings through songwriting. Assbring began recording her new songs on her own, playing most of the instruments herself as well as singing, and in late 2006 Sweden's Hybris label issued her debut release, a three-song EP. The EP earned enthusiastic reviews and respectable sales, and Assbring's next project was a split single with Jens Lekman, released in North America by the prestigious indie label Secretly Canadian. A second EP, 2005's You Gotta Give to Get, was a hit in Sweden, thanks in part to a charming animated video for the title tune, and the disc helped spread the word about her music in England and the United States. Later that year, Hybris compiled El Perro del Mar's single sides and EPs into an album, Look! It's el Perro del Mar!; then, El Perro del Mar, a mostly reworked version of that first release, was issued in the U.K. by Memphis Industries in the fall of 2006, with an American version from The Control Group following shortly afterward. All of this was enough to get the singer signed to her fellow Swedes the Concretes' label, Licking Fingers, and she soon began working on new material. From the Valley to the Stars, her second full-length album of new material, arrived in early 2008.