El Perro del Mar

El Perro del Mar is the project of Sarah Assbring, a Swedish musician whose celestial aural confections combine contemporary experimental pop with Brill Building pop. Meanwhile, her lyrics speak with a sweet, ineffable sadness of the pitfalls of love and life. The project's international full-length debut, El Perro del Mar, arrived in 2006. She landed in the Swedish Top 40 with her next two albums, including the collaborative Love Is Not Pop (2009). Those records also reflected a shifting sound, drawing, in turn, on disco and dark synth atmospheres. Released in 2016, KoKoro was influenced by Assbring immersing herself in Asian and African pop. It was followed by EPs such as 2018's We Are History, 2020's politically charged Free Land, and her 2021 piece composed to accompany a modern dance work, Riptide. The darkly melancholy 2023 single "In Silence" previewed El Perro del Mar's next long-player, 2024's Big Anonymous.