Religion and death

Swedish pop minstrel El Perro Del Mar (“The Dog of the Sea”) came to indie prominence a couple of years ago with the release of a beautiful and melancholy self titled debut. It was a record that carried with it the air of having been discovered in a grandparent’s musty basement – a sepia time capsule by a long-dead pre-War starlet. Her second album, From the Valley to the Stars, has just hit Australian shores, and it confirms El Perro Del Mar (Sarah Assbring by birth) as a rare talent. I spoke to Sarah on the phone as she sipped a double espresso in her kitchen.

What was the process of making From the Valley to the Stars?

It was a long process. It was different. I wanted it to be different, I knew that I wanted to make a conceptual piece – an entity, a unity of songs, I wanted to make something that was almost expressionist in some kind of way.

I started with that idea, and with these theoretical ideas in my mind I felt I needed to work on a theme, so I started to do research for that while I toured.

When I finally got the time I connected a lot of ideas and impressions and theories. I had them in my notebooks. When I got back to Gothenburg and started writing music I had all these ideas collected and I just started to put the ideas down and put them into music.

It was a different kind of process and a process I didn’t know would be possible… I had all these ideas for songs – I had very specific things written down for the songs – this song will sound like this, this song will sound like this… and then there will be a part of the song where this happens… blah blah blah…

I didn’t know if it was ever going to sound the way that I envisioned or even going to be an actual song – it was all a risky thing.

I was really happy to find pretty fast after I started writing music that it was possible and I was very happy that I made it.

You say the music came after the language. Does this include lyrics? Do you keep a diary or write a lot?

I have tons of notebooks. I separate things a lot. I have a personal diary where I would never ever write any ideas or inspirations – I’m very meticulous about that… I’ve always made that kind of distinction with things.

I know when I go to the place I work or write, if I stumble on a diary note when I’m writing music it distracts me or annoys me so they have to be kept separate.

I keep 3 or 4 notebooks. Some contain inspiration, people, events, other music. Page after page of names, dates, buildings, historical events. Other books contain quotations, poetry. Others contain my own stuff.

So you find a lot of inspiration in places beyond music?

When it comes to music, all the music that means something to me has a very clear heartfulness and soul. That’s what I look for and what I instantly hear and love when I listen to music. I think it’s the same when it comes to other things. I draw inspiration from a lot of different things – architecture very much, literature, photography and math – and art. And a lot of inspiration from various people… Peoples’ lives.

It’s all about the soul and the heart of those people and what they made and the imprints that they left on this world, I think, that I’m drawn to.

You instantly see it when you look at a painting or a building – you see the person behind it and that’s what fascinates me.

There is an innocence about From the Valley to the Stars, which you’ve said before is a conscious thing. Is modern music too cynical?

Yeah… It’s in a lot of modern music. The feeling that I had and wanted to rid myself of was… when you’re into pop music and the short lived world that pop music is about – about fashion, and it’s so well studied, you tend to get cynical and bitter when you’re involved in pop music.

I wanted to make something that wasn’t about that, something good hearted that didn’t have ideas of anything else besides being loving and good hearted… I didn’t want to be a part of the complaining department.

There’s certainly a few religious references on this album, and I think the use of the organ gives it the feeling of a mass, or a wake. Did you have a religious upbringing?

No, definitely not. But I’ve always been – especially in the last few years – drawn to religion . I wanted to explore the reason why that was.

The last few years I have been very – there’s been a lot of deaths taking place – I lost a lot of people the last few years – and I started to think about what relation death had to religion. For me religion was so closely linked to death… the only reason we have religion is because people have always needed and will always need an explanation for why their loved ones disappear, so I wanted to explore that and to see if there was a religion for me or if I’m even capable of believing in something

I realised that I’m not - probably not. Not in a religion per se but maybe [I can believe in] a religion that is simple and almost childlike for me in the way that children celebrate life and celebrate nature.

That’s what I ended up believing when I wrote the album, and that to me is what the album stands for – this simple, naïve celebration of living and being part of the world and part of nature.

You’ve said you wanted to make an “unfashionable” album. Do you think drawing from Christianity is one of the more unfashionable things you could have done?

It is probably yeah. That’s what inspired me as well – why is it [unfashionable]? What’s the reason? I’m always drawn to doing things that people would initially think is weird or not so fashionable maybe, but to me it’s the only thing that I could do, the only thing on my mind, the only thing that I wanted to express, to talk about, so I had no real choice but to be unfashionable.

Are you immune to fashion?

No. I love fashion and trends – I’m very weak when it comes to fashion. But if your meaning is to be a serious artist – or if you take yourself seriously when it comes to your art or your music – I think you have to kind of separate yourself from what goes on in fashion and trends – a little bit at least – if you’re going to really have your own voice, and your own soul and your own heart, if it’s going to be heard through the trendiness.

I try to keep them separated because I thinks that’s the point – by the time you’re done with what you’re doing, something else has happened and the wind has changed, so you really need to have an idea that what you’re making is your own regardless of what is going around.

Any chance you’ll work with Jens Lekman again?

Definitely – I hope so. I’ll probably spend some time in his summer house in the south of Sweden this summer. We’ll probably make something during that time.

Any plans to make it over to Australia in support of the album?

There are, but nothing set. I’m hoping to come in winter. Hopefully.

I’ve never been to Australia, but I’ve been dreaming about it.