One Track Mind

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Since her debut release in 2005, Sweden’s Sarah Assbring has steadily won over the hearts and ears of music critics and the blogosphere at large with her winsome blend of 1960s pop songwriting influences and heartbroken melancholy. To a certain degree, El Perro del Mar isn’t a surprising sprout given that she has been nurtured in the same fertile Gothenburg scene as artists including Jens Lekman and Jose Gonzalez. However, Assbring’s compositions have always been set apart thanks to her distinctively cool vocal delivery and her gossamer arrangements. On October 20th, Assbring will release her third full-length as El Perro del Mar, the coyly titled Love Is Not Pop, on The Control Group; “Change of Heart” is our first peek at the new album.

One of the most immediately striking aspects of this song is its production approach, which has been heavily influenced by a breezy ’80s aesthetic. From the flattened funk of the bassline and clipped synthesizer notes to the heavy reverb on the sharp guitar chords and the chorals atmospherics, there is a lot on “Change of Heart” to suggest the jazzy inflections of the more sedate portion of Everything but the Girl‘s post-Cherry Red material. It is, though, strikingly original at the same time, the rendering of old traditions into something new courtesy of her dulcet voice and the fog which hangs heavy in the shadows.

There is a lot of thick processing on this song–on Assbring’s vocals, on guitar and keyboard parts–but the sound never stumbles toward the heavy. Instead, “Change of Heart” does a marvelous job of keeping that feathery sheen which has worked so well in the past. It is a strong track in every sense of the word, perhaps a sign that El Perro del Mar has finally shed the frail qualities which have turned some off to her music in the past. This is an inspired and well-conceived recording, meditative yet with a strong sense of direction, and one that augurs a new level of complexity and artistry for the upcoming release.