Walking round Portland today (day off today and show tomorrow) I had two companions. For the first half Tom Simpson our keyboard player and thoroughly good egg spend the first three hours keeping me company and making me laugh then for the next three hours of a marathon day of walking the iPod went on and Sarah Assbring, otherwise known as El Perro Del Mar (it means dog from the sea although I'm not sure what that refers to. Badly researched you say? As ever I say) and she and I spent three dreamy hours together.
Her latest Love Is Not Pop I'm least familiar with as I've only just got my hands on it but lovely it is. Her first two records though have become musical food to me and I need them three times a day at least. I snack on them too. Dipping into songs like Dog and God Knows (You Gotta Give to Get) from her self-titled debut long player and the simple and stunning How Did We Forget from last year's follow-up From The Valley to the Stars with the killer mantra "it's easy babe.... to make it hard".
It is soul music in its inspiration with a downturned Scandinavian twist (she being Swedish an' all). Sure it's haunting but in its own way it's strangely uplifting. Having spent the day (in a way) with her again I can attest to the fact it is very spiritual music as I feel somehow more hopeful than I did this morning, although this morning I did have a raging hangover and a wee dose of the auld man-flu. Music with a sad tilt often has that effect on me whether it is sub-consciously knowing someone else goes through this too or simply that I am a pervert of sorts. A sadness perv happy to wallow a little. Fine when you're on your own like I was today but it's certainly not music to go into battle with. Yup, it's still Rage Against The Machine for that but today there was no fighting necessary, who's to say what tomorrow brings but every day of my life has been spend without the need to throw my fists so I'll no doubt not need to blow the dust off the Rage record just yet. I'll once again more than likely turn to El Perro Del Mar.
She has a way about her alright. Something I'll not figure out soon or maybe ever. But I'm fine with it. I don't need to open it up. She can sing the phrase "come on over baby there's a party going on" (Party on the eponymous debut) and make it sound like it's a trap and that if baby really did come on over he'd be in the wheelie bin out the back by half seven. Well bits of him would. And this is where she has something that I've not seen in music much recently: danger. Love on a knife-edge. The song I Can't Talk About It comes off like a Spector Wall of Sound head down thumbs up and yet the lyric is about her making a life on her own and 'she can't really talk about it'. There is a universe of hurt in those words and yet the song itself shakes my hips. In that way she creates a little war between head and body and has a magic over you and you don't even know it's happening til you're in there at wonderful war with yourself. When, in This Loneliness, she sings "this loneliness ain't pretty no more it's only taken the place of a friend" you'll not know where to look.
The best music confuses as much as delights and this is mesmeric in every way possible. In the perfect world I sometimes imagine on long walks with myself she'd be a super massive star. I hope she is in the real world soon enough. Til next week lots of love.g.x
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11:46 AM | 13/10/2009
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Aw Gary you certainly have a way with words.."A sadness perv happy to wallow a little"..love it!
Yes, you gotta give to get back, what a pretty tune, and you give a lot, so lots to come for you my dear I am sure of that xx
Posted by Lorraine at 9:02 AM | 14/10/2009 | Report Abuse
I totally agree with Lorraine - lots to come for you, Gary .....
Posted by Lu at 11:45 AM | 15/10/2009 | Report Abuse
I totally agree with Lorraine - lots of you to come, dear Gary
Posted by Lu at 11:56 AM | 15/10/2009 | Report Abuse
Music saves my life everyday,so thank you for the music you make and for the one you recomend wich i love almoust all of it,it makes my life so much better. I can't wait for your next recomandation. XXX
Posted by Kiki at 8:42 PM | 16/10/2009 | Report Abuse
this song is really beautiful and makes you a good feeling.
want you to know that their songs always brighten my day.
when I go to the gym, when I'm working or walking with myself, I am always in your company Gary.^^"
I hunger for their music :)
big kiss
Posted by Diana at 5:57 PM | 18/10/2009 | Report Abuse
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