El Perro Del Mar

Remember when Phil Spector was just an eccentric, megalomaniacal genius, instead of an accused murderer? Sarah Assbring, the one-woman band behind El Perro Del Mar, does. Her second album is a dewy, glistening wall of sound, built out of layer upon layer of ringing instrumentals, girl group vocals and shoo-be-doo-wops. Like Spector, Assbring also has a dark side. But if Spector is a sociopath, Assbring's only got the blues, steeping several of her tunes in a weary sadness before "Shak[ing] It Off" on the album's springier second half.

Swedish chanteuse Sarah Assbring (a.k.a. El Perro Del Mar) sounds like the saddest Brill
Building singer in the world. These eleven tracks ache with longing and loneliness:
Assbring sings in a voice that recalls Julee Cruise's spectral quiver, over ghostly girl-group
melodies. She sounds like she wants to get over her heartache but just can't muster the
motivation, which might get grating if she didn't leaven the mood with be-bop-a-l... More >