From hip Sweden and based on the even hipper Memphis Industries label (home to The Go! Team, Dungen, The Pipettes and Field Music) comes Sarah who follows her musical muse using the name EL PERRO DEL MAR. Having surrounded herself with some illustrious company her credentials were given a further boost through a 2004 split single (with Jens Lenkman) on the Secretly Canadian label whose lauded acts include Anthony and The Johnsons, Magnolia Electric Co and Damien Jurado. EL PERRO DEL MAR’s eponymous debut is written, produced and arranged by Sarah and is in her words “the easiest and most direct way for me to say and do the things I cannot do in real life. To live inside the music, to close the door on the outside world – if just for 3 minutes of a song.”
EL PERRO DEL MAR is a strange but inviting bitter-sweet confection. Much of the time Sarah wraps her direct and intimate lyrics in a warm, fuzzy pre-Beatles nostalgic glow that recalls Spector girl groups and the songs of Goffin/King. Tracks like ‘God Knows (You Gotta Give To Get)’ - with its opening strings that recall Sam Cooke – ‘I Can’t Talk About It’ and ‘It’s All Good’ are predominantly upbeat with simple but honest messages of love, heartbreak and happiness: John Waters could have used them in films like ‘Hairspray’ and ‘Cry Baby’.
Despite these upbeat trappings the majority of songs have a melancholy air and a haunting quality that evoke Julee Cruise working with Angelo Badalamenti on an as- yet untitled David Lynch project. The candy coating of the music (the opening track is in fact called ‘Candy’) masks some fairly downbeat and just plain sad songs that reach their starkest display both musically and lyrically on ‘Party’, an ironic title for a track so devoid of party spirit with its heart-breaking lament of “Is it so hard to see? I don’t want to cause no trouble. I just want to be a part of you.” The downbeat mood is maintained on ‘People’ (“I can’t understand people”) and ‘’This Lonliness’ yet she can suddenly turn the light back on with a loving ode to her pet on ‘Dog’ or by celebrating the joy of personal freedom on ‘It’s All Good’.
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Vocally Sarah is an odd of hybrid of Julee Cruise, Mari Wilson and Kate Bush and her voice has its limitations which she cleverly masks with the overdubbing of skilfully arranged backing vocals and a warm musical ambience of strummed guitar interspersed with other muted instrumentation that plays to its strengths.
Ultimately listening to EL PERRO DEL MAR is a rewarding experience, an album brimful of catchy old-fashioned melodies and simple but pertinent lyrics. This will not be to everyone’s tastes - and there is a sneaking suspicion that there is more novelty value than long-term musical fulfilment from repeated listening - but nonetheless this is a diverting and off beat album showcasing an off-kilter talent.
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