Interview: Sarah Assbring (El Perro Del Mar)
I few weeks ago I had a special chance to sit down at a café with Sarah
Assbring of El Perro Del Mar, and the following interview, actually moreso
a conversation is what I recorded down. It was refreshing to just relax and
chat and talk about music, and more importantly what goes into the music in
her create process. The show review was already posted, but this took place
in the early evening the day before, and I had a great time, and I hope she
did too, and I hope you, the reader does as well. I would like to thanks
Filip for setting it up for me, and Sarah for providing me with a lovely
time.
- Matt Giordano
MG: So how have the shows gone, from your perspective, in the States?
SA: Really, really well. I'm really, really happy about them. The first
place I played at was very small and very intimate and was amazing and the
second place was very different, but also amazing; and last night was also
very good, and the venues have been very varied, and I like that.
MG: At first I was thought it was going to be just you coming over here, but was pleasantly surprised to learn that it was going to be full band. Did you bring a horn section with you?
SA: No, I don't. That's something I'm going to do later when I have greater
possibilities, and it's very sad that I cannot do that, but I just have to
accept the fact that I can't. So, it becomes a translation of the songs in
another kind of way, with bass, guitar, and backing vocals.
MG: Knowing that the Scandinavian version of your album was released in May 2005, and the others not until the Spring 2006 (UK) and now November 2006 for the US release, how has that affected you working on new material?
SA: In one way you can say the build up, and the development has been
perfect for me because it's been going at a very natural pace and I've been
very happy about it. But, at the same time I can't deny the fact that was
released a long time ago so it's not old, but I'm very anxious to get on to
record new stuff, and I've been writing songs for so long. It's been
difficult touring and singing a lot, because it delays the work even.
MG: Do you end up playing a lot of the new stuff live?
SA: No, I don't, especially not this yet, because it's going to be very,
very ambitious, very orchestral. I'm going to try to do it.
MG: I can see that happening, especially with how Look! It's El Perro Del Mar closed out. The last three or four tracks contain a lot of subtle textures, I'm not sure if it's organ or strings that play with one another, and I could see you playing live with something akin to a string quartet, as well as a horn section.
SA: Well, that was my plan, my dream. I think I've said to people: "I'm
never going to perform live unless it's with a big orchestra" because that
would give me a amazing opportunity, but that's something to dream about
one day.
MG: How is, from inside the Swedish music scene looking outward? A lot of artists have begun to get a lot of press, especially in the UK and the States.
SA: I get that question so much, and it's very difficult to say, and it is
a whole different thing looking from the inside; and I understand from the
outside it's thought of as "what's happening over there" people always ask
what's in the water and things like that. For me, it's very hard to come up
with an answer for it, because when I'm making my music I'm doing what I
did, and I could have made it on an island on the middle of the ocean. I
had no idea what was going on music-wise, because I wasn't listening to any
contemporary music at all during that time. I didn't know any bands, and I
didn't know anyone when I made the record, but, at the same time, trying to
think of the reason that would set us apart from any other country. I think
that a lot of the bands that are coming here and getting press and being
written about, they are mostly independent bands, very very independent
bands: running their owns labels, setting up studios. Most of them are
totally independent, and there's not a big machine, and they're totally
involved in music, and the music speaks for itself.
MG: I see a lot bands collaborating with each other.
SA: Yes, and it's all about the music, working with other people because
you love each others' music.
MG: And that's the most amazing part to me, everyone meeting and just an amalgamate of ideas. It's like Rem Koolhaas working with Arne Quinze to complete a building. So, do you have any artistic outlets other than music?
SA: No, I don't, but I have an urge to paint, and I did paint a lot when I
was younger. But, I feel I have an urge for it sometimes. I really like
going into something very meditative. But making music for me, because I
write and produce and play everything, I think I can get so many different
aspects of feeling this music. It can both be very creative and abstract,
and very concrete and practical and practical as well; and it's very
satisfying. It's very much going into something, and tweaking. I think it's
very much that I have found a way of making music that satisfies the whole
aspect of being creative, and the feeling of the need to be creative. It's
fun, and it's hard and it's as difficult as it is, it's meditative, and
it's everything.
MG: So when you get back to Sweden are you going to relax for a bit after the tour?
SA: No, when I get back, I'm very anxious to get back to the studio and to
begin working on new material, and I have been for so long.
MG: I'm curious, what is your studio set up like?
SA: I built a studio together with my boyfriend, and we have been building
it up slowly for a lot of years, and now I can do everything I want. Now
I'm at the stage where I work alone, and when it's time to rework I record
other musicians. But now I'm at the point where I'm doing everything, my
own recording.
MG: Is it in a wood cabin?
SA: No, it's not. Actually it's in an industrial kind of cellar and it's
really cosy, it's a perfect haven. It has no windows, and when you close
the door, it's as if you're out of time. It's exactly how I want it. I have
the perfect food of thought for things, and it's what a studio should be
like for me.
MG: I guess that's the other thing, having your own comfort. You don't want to go into some huge studio and be overwhelmed by everything,
SA: Yes, exactly; having it be handled by someone, some other person, and
at someone else's place, that would just be totally wrong, and not very
creative at all. The studio is an art, it's the place where you have all
the pains, go crazy and do whatever you want, so that's what I guess the
studio is for me.
MG: You could also live there if you want, not all the time, but maybe have a cot available if you work late.
SA: If I could, definitely. That's another part of it that's really good
that I've come to learn: it is an artistic profession, but it is my
profession, it is my job. I go there and I work very focussed and then I go
home, and the working day is over. I mean, I like that. I didn't ever think
that I would come to a place where I felt that's the aura, the whole beauty
of it. I think it's good to have that look upon it as well: this is my job,
and I have to as professional as I can about it. You need to have a
routine, because then if you don't, it would just be scrabble. It's a good
thing, the feeling that you have this creativity, and you have a knowledge
of how it works, where you work.
MG: What did you do before, I mean, Sweden is a smaller country, and you can play a lot of shows, but you do not want to over-play. Did you work odd-jobs?
SA: I did. For quite a long time I studied, and then I had a job at the
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, and that was a perfect haven to be in. And
then for the last two and a half years I've been able to make music
full-time.
MG: I guess maybe working there, had a direct influence on what you want to do next.
SA: Definitely, definitely.
MG: So, when you work on a song, do you think of the vocal melody first and base the music on that, or will you write the instrumentation first?
SA: It varies, but I think it is very much based on a phrase, a phrase of
the lyrics. I get a mood and a harmony out of a phrase. I have a notebook
with one or two sentences on a page, and when I do the very "Nick Cave"
kind of writing, I take my notebook, and I go through them and I find
something and I work with that. Other times, I get the instant melody and
the instant song. Sometimes the "Nick Cave", the going in the office and
writing a song aspect works, most of the time that works, and that's what's
so satisfying. It's very satisfying when you can have a very professional
attitude towards your music, and you can feel it, It's coming from a very
inner soul. The phrases that I write down in my notebook, they are instant,
and they are preserved as the phrase in the notebook, and when I look at
them a month later, I can see what I meant, and I can instantly reconnect
to that feeling.