The Swede Sarah Assbring sings hymnically about the wounds that life has inflicted on her. Her seventh studio album is now available.
We will probably never know exactly where the dog came from, who owned it and how it was called. The sudden appearance and wagging of a stray’s tail on a beach nevertheless launched a remarkable pop career.
It’s been more than 20 years since the Swede Sarah Assbring was in the final hours of a moderately relaxing holiday in Spain and was staring into the sunset in a bad mood. But the four-legged friend lifted her spirits and gave her a name for a band project of which she is still the only permanent member: El Perro del Mar, Spanish for “the dog of the sea”.
The now 46-year-old singer and multi-instrumentalist from Gothenburg continues to make music for the sunset. Over time, the ongoing loss of family members caused a thick layer of sadness and grief to build up within her that could no longer be wiped away. Assbring felt her own mortality more than ever, felt guilty: Why am I still alive and the others had to go?