Sarah Assbring, the exotic voice of El Perro del Mar, flanked by her strings and organ, caused a rare phenomenon at the Bowery Ballroom on the first night of her U.S. tour. With cold intoxicating chord swells and passionate, reverberating vocals, the Swedish pop siren hypnotized the audience into stillness and silence. With taps of her red velvet flats on a tambourine providing the only percussion, Assbring’s gypsy melodies could out-haunt Sigur Ros any day. Wind chimes and echoes of her verses were quiet storms over frozen plains, while the crimson lights shed an eerie glow over her band. LAVINIA WRIGHT / PHOTOS BY DAVE GUSTAV
>> Listen to El Perro del Mar on Napster
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