EL PERRO DEL MAR

Pale Fire

[The Control Group]

Sarah Assbring, the Swedish artist behind El Perro del Mar, continues to evolve her sound, and after beginning the move away from acoustic arrangements on her last album, she completes the shift to electronica on her fourth full-length. Though synthesizers aren’t new to El Perro del Mar’s catalog, the sound of Pale Fire is more obviously electronic, as heard in the intentionally programmed sound of the drums and the synthetic nature of the horns, which are played on keyboards. The ambience is soft and somewhat hazy, free from sharp edges and complemented by the bright, chiming keyboards. Whereas previous El Perro works notably lacked percussion, beats are elemental to these tracks. Room remains for the layered vocal harmonies heard on earlier albums, but their impact is muted. Despite her transition to an all-electronics aesthetic, Assbring takes the same uncluttered approach to songwriting she did when working with acoustic instruments. –Amanda Farah