"Although I didn't write this song, it spoke to me in a way that made me feel as if it was my own story,” Brandon said. “I found myself playing it over and over again in my bedroom, remembering situations that I've been through.”
Check out the video for yourself below.
office caught up with the artist to uncover more about her sort of intangible aura that keeps all of us listening and coming back for more.
Tell me a bit about yourself and how El Perro Del Mar came to fruition.
My name is Sarah. I’m a musician and artist. I’ve been doing that my entire adult life. I think that the point I found my pseudonym as El Perro Del Mar was around when I was 27 and it really marked a point in my life where I found my right place and my right voice as a musician. So it took my quite a while, but from that point, I’ve just been making music in any kind of shape or form, but always under El Perro Del Mar.
What is the difference between Sarah Assbring and El Perro Del Mar?
El Perro Del Mar is very much my way of being able to express all of the different personalities and emotions that I feel. It’s the umbrella that I use, the toolbox I have to express myself and the way I need to do, but maybe not in the way I can do when I’m just Sarah.
Throughout your countless artistic expressions, what is the most important thing you’ve learned along the way?
At one point in life, I was really in a very fragile, tumultuous state of mind. I was asking for means to be alive. For the first time in my life I was doubting whether music was the thing that I was going to make, whether it was the key to being a happy person. And I think that’s when I found out that it is. I did it in a easy that made sense to me, in a sort of existential way that made me happy. That’s what I’ve learned.
How did you create the name El Perro Del Mar?
The reason I chose the name El Perro Del Mar was because I had a meeting with a stray dog and I felt like there was a bare and unfaked being with that dog that I really wanted to hold on to and that was the very core of what I wanted to be and what I wanted to do. So that is something that I always try to go back to everytime I make a new record.
Shirt by Carin Wester (left); shirt by Carin Wester, dress by Whyred (right).
That’s such an unique approach.
I hold onto that very much and every time I feel like maybe I have forgotten it, I have to go back again. It’s painstaking because when I start, I always end up at that moment where I have to deconstruct everything and fall to the floor, and really ask myself, “Why do I do this? Is it worth it?” Then I end up having that bare, raw, naked reason where I know, “yes this is the place, this is where I’m supposed to be.” It’s very existential. It’s the same feeling as knowing I have to eat. I have to breathe. I have to write. A lot of things have happened since that day, but I always carry that principle with me. It’s very important still, and I know that the day when it’s not important anymore I wouldn’t go through it again. I wouldn’t make music and have this work if it wasn’t clear for me.
Is this kind of ultimate revelation just as groundbreaking each time?
It is actually. I think that is one of the key reasons why my music is different. I’ve heard why every album for me sounds different in some way. But that is a reason why. That is why I have to go through that surge within me. I need to find that revelation again and again. I do this by experiencing new sounds, playing new instruments, looking elsewhere for music. It takes me to different places each time.
What is the most profound thing you’ve discovered recently?
I just found out a couple of weeks ago this Moroccan kind of music that’s called Gnawa. It’s this sort of exorcistic, ritualistic, very simple, beat-drive music. There are people going around the village playing this music during the day or night and you just fall into this trascendental beat that lasts for hours. It’s very rave-like. That is an example of when I stumble upon something where I’m like, “wow this exists and has been existing for a very long time.” It’s very much to do with being being together—melting together. The more I discover, the more I realize that everything is connected.
Jacket & pants by Remake, shirt by Acne Studios, coat by ARKET, shoes by Ganni (left); shirt by Carin Wester, dress by Whyred (right).
What’s one standard you’ve never felt the need to fulfill?
I’ve always been free with the idea of what I should be and I still feel that way. The older I get, the stronger I hold this ideal of what I want to be, but I’m sometimes I don’t feel as driven to fulfill certain things. I’m very basic when it comes to my own life. I just need to create and do it constantly. As long as I can do that, I’m happy with a simple life. Age brings a wisdom that there isn’t much to worry about.
What is the last movie watched and loved?
I saw a documentary on Joe Strummer the other night. I was so fulfilled, but kind of blue after. He was a genius but also had the sadness within him. He would always say, “dont worry about it, just do it” That kind of a very cliche thing. He ended up dying from a heart disease that he had all his life and he could’ve died at any moment, but he didnt know it. That rings very true when you think you have to make what you have to make. I’ve always had that feeling even when I was little. Waking up with those kind of itchy hands, where you feel like you have to make something. I have that still. All I have to do is make sure I go through with it and if I didn’t, I would be very unhappy.
I feel like you have such an ongoing sense of fulfillment. What has been your proudest moment to date?
I always say this and it’s making me tired of myself, but absolutely my son. I was so surprised at being able to have a child and everytime I look at him I’m shocked that sort of thing is possible. I would never do something better than him.
What are you most looking forward to in the near future?
My dream today is to write the film score for a beautiful film. That’s what I’m intending to do and most excited about making. Of course, I’m always excited about making music, too.
Listen to El Perro Del Mar here.
Lead image: Jacket & pants by Remake, shirt by Acne Studios.
Aside from having had Cherry Glazerr songs featured in film soundtracks, Creevy’s acted on Transparent and modeled for the likes of Saint Laurent—but her idea of success is simply getting to make music and go on tour. Something she’s doing a lot of these days.
During a brief stop in New York, the singer sat down with office to talk Stuffed & Ready and growing up.
How did you realize you were into making music?
When I was 14 I started going and seeing a lot of bands around LA. I was really into No Age and Battles and angular rock bands. I also watched a lot of videos of bands playing on YouTube. A lot of my earliest experiences with rock music came from the internet. I started making Cherry Glazerr songs when I was 15 and I started recording my own music with help from my friend Paige who is in this band called Tashaki Miyaki. Then Joel Jerome who is an LA producer/songwriter, he helped me record my first batch of recordings when I was 15. I always played guitar and was writing a lot of songs. So, it came really naturally.
I’m interested to hear your perspective about the internet, because in your case it was something that helped you get into your passion with music. But what do you think of it as a landscape?
It’s a reflection of the world. There’s a lot of great things on the internet and a lot of corruption as well. I had been musical ever since I was like, four years old, so it was something that facilitated what I was already doing. It wasn’t a place where I discovered who I was at all. I’m of the school that thinks that the world is not a bad place and for the most part, our inclination is to love one another and that we want peace and harmony—that the world isn’t bad, that it’s awesome and beautiful. And I think when you get stuck in an internet K-hole, that idea can be tarnished. And that’s sad to me because that’s not reality. I feel like a lot of the crap on the internet is a projection of our fears just accumulated into one and we’re forced to look at it. And that sucks. But there’s so much cool stuff on the internet too—I’ve met a lot of cool people from the internet.
I think we have such a complicated relationship with it and I think the fact that everyone talks about how social media makes them feel bad is in and of itself an act of radical pushback. Because if we’re all talking about how shitty it makes us feel, then there’s a consensus that maybe we should do something about this thing that makes us feel horrible about ourselves all the time. I don’t think we’ve figured out how to navigate that yet, but I think we’re at a good starting point.
It is something we all collectively complain about, but then a lot of us are still really addicted to it. And I think the way it meshes with creative careers—a lot of people feel like they have to have an Instagram because it’s how you promote yourself.
I can definitely relate to that. I use Instagram a lot. And if my Instagram account got deleted I would probably go into a state of panic. I’d feel like a part of my identity had been stripped away. And that’s what’s so corrupt about it. I’m not a brand, I’m just a person. But I think Facebook and Instagram want us to believe that we are a brand, and I think that’s really harmful. But I think most of us have an awareness of that and know that that’s shitty, and that’s, to me, a good starting point. It's complicated.
Does getting to travel on tour keep you more connected in a real way?
Totally. Being on tour is a really natural state for me because I love playing every night. And being on tour allows me to play music every night. And my version of success is making music. So, it’s a very natural place for me to be—I wish I could be on tour 24/7. And then I’m on tour for 10 months and I’m like... 'Just kidding.'
You’ve spoken about the misogyny you’ve faced specifically in venues, and now you’re 22, you’ve been doing this for awhile. How has that shifted? Or is it still the same?
That’s a good question. For the most part venues are accommodating, shows run smoothly, things are great. And then sometimes you run into a great deal of sexism and I think it’s like anything else in the world, because misogyny permeates every aspect of our society. So, for the most part, it’s awesome. I love being on the road and venues are great to me. I’ve noticed people know who I am now, which is crazy to me. I still think of myself as a baby band but then I’m like, ‘Oh shit, I have been grinding at this for seven years.’ We’re not fucking Arcade Fire but people do know who we are. So, I have been running into instances of people being very respectful and understanding of my history of having done this a lot. That’s very surprising and humbling.
Well, being women we’re still fighting to be taken seriously, but we have a lot of women in the arts and in music that paved a path for us.
Yeah dude. I hang out sometimes with Allison Wolfe from Bratmobile which was a ’90s Riot Grrrl band, super influential along with Bikini Kill and that whole scene. She’s so dope. We did a West Coast tour with one of her bands Sex Stains that she was in two years ago, which is now defunct. She’s the reason I’m able to do what I do. She kicked down so many doors so I could do what I do. She said that to me, and I was like, ‘You’re so fucking right and thank you so much. And thank you for saying that too and allowing me to realize it.’ People were actively and aggressively trying to tear her down because she was trying to be a part of punk music, and this wasn’t even that long ago.
It seems to be improving now but there’s always been such a boys’ club in the music scene and basically no space for women at shows.
Yeah not at all. And not only was there no space, people actively didn’t want you there. I think for the most part people don’t really care, but there’s this thing that happens in those environments where men get macho and try to claim their territory, claim their space. And that’s such a sad, ingrained reality.
How do you feel your lyrics have shifted thematically on this record?
It’s hard for me to answer that question being on the inside of it and it seems like a natural life for me. But I do think that on earlier records when I was younger, when I was 18 and 19, I wanted everything to be a metaphor and I wanted to sound smart. But I think with Stuffed & Ready I dropped that attitude a bit and wrote about my raw feelings more without having to use random big words.
Do you have any idea what caused that shift? Was it maybe having time on the road, time away from school?
That’s a good point, nobody’s ever brought that up. I think being out of school definitely influenced my writing and my way of thinking. School is so weird and so not like real life because everything is so structured and bureaucratic. You run into bureaucracy in life, but I think for the most part school doesn’t teach free thought.
I went to a progressive school and it was awesome; I got to take women’s studies which changed my life and made me a feminist. The day I learned about solidarity—this idea that men have been helping men helping men helping men to create the economy and that if women helped women helped women helped women, we could also create an economy—that blew my mind. I’ve thought about the world differently ever since. So, I feel super grateful to have had that. School teaches you to think about time in such an arbitrary way, and there’s so much arbitrary bullshit in school.
Do you have any thoughts on the versions of you that have existed throughout all your albums? What version of you does this album tap into?
I think I have more chill. Even though the record is really heavy, I’ve developed certain ways of thinking that have given me more of an inner reserve. And I think this album is a lot about developing that within myself.
What ways of thinking?
Just certain practices have helped me become the person I am today. Mostly practices related to trusting myself and not beating myself up, and that’s made me a happier person. The album is a lot of getting the shit out, and getting a lot of things that have been weighing on me out. But then there are songs like “Stupid Fish” and “Daddi” which are more like ruminations on what I believe in. I think the album also has a lot of me figuring out what my philosophies are about things, which is important to me, because I’m a dumb human trying to find meaning in everything.
'Stuffed & Ready' is out now.
If there is one thing KeithCharles is, it’s in touch with his emotions, but don’t take it from us, just listen to his new EP “I love you, but you already knew that”. It’s hard to pigeonhole Mr. Charles—the 28-year-old rapper/producer doesn’t simply make tracks, he makes musical collages that blend the grit of hip-hop with the ethereality of experimental indie.
The EP represents a masterful culminating point in the artist’s career, a true signifier of just how much his sound has evolved and expanded from the 90s-inspired throwback mixtape vibes of his initial work way back in 2011. Drawing as much from his southern background as he does from the depths of his soul, Charles was able to create a remarkably human narrative about love and loss poignant enough to soften the stoniest of hearts, and with a bouncy beat to boot.
We had a chance to catch up with the musician to ask him a couple questions about “I love you, but you already knew that”, the creative direction for “Bulletproof”, the music video premiering exclusively with office today on March 8th, and some other groovy topics.
Top by Helmut Lang, Bottoms by Acne Studios.
Introduce yourself, tell me about where you’re from and all that good stuff.
I’m KeithCharles and I just turned twenty-eight, pisces game. I was born in Tampa, Florida and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, where I started making music.
Do you come from a church background?
Yes, definitely, southern baptist. One day my mom was like you know what? Fuck this. And I was like yeah that’s right mom, fuck this shit! So I thought alright, I’m not going back.
So you never went back to church after that?
There were a few times when my grandma dragged me, my aunts dragged me, or times when spent the night at somebody’s house and their mama would drag me to church, that kind of thing. But my mom always wanted me to be a musician, she put me in church piano lessons, then outside lessons and all that. Then when I got a little older I just wanted to be outside with my boys, but I really wish I had paid attention, I wish I’d listened to what my teachers were saying because I would’ve been crazy by now. I play cello, piano, and bass, but recently I’ve been focusing on guitar and bass.
You could be a one-man band.
I want to, all of my favorite musicians have that type of thing going on. It’s better if you can do everything yourself.
I can imagine, you cut out the middle man.
Mhm, but then you just want to bring in more middle men—people you trust.
Yeah exactly, you get to be very selective about the people with surround yourself with, creatively-speaking. Where do your sound come from?
My sound identity comes from who I am as a person, and it all stems back to my family, there are many different pieces. Just being black, I think we possess this innate desire to create within us, and that’s where I draw most of my inspiration from. Trying to discover what it means to be a man is a constant theme, and I also try to grapple with all of those non-verbal emotions, those feelings that remain unsaid. My sound is heavily inspired by southern rap, especially old school southern rap, like 8Ball & MJG, UGK, Three 6 Mafia, all of Cash Money Records—these are my basis. Then, as I got older, different artistic influences piled on top of that foundation, but at the root, it’s just...slap. Just slap.
It’s cool you say that because even in your music video for "Bulletproof", if you were to strip away the indie-alt aesthetic layers of the art direction and instrumentals, the base of the sound is very much this raw, southern beat. What was the concept behind the title of your EP?
It’s about the time that I took away from making music, the time I took away from trying to figure out what my sound was. I had so many questions right before I moved to New York, and I needed to to figure everything out. Once I got up here, I was still trying to make music but it took me so long to get into the flow of New York living, to find my core group of friends, all that kind of stuff. I used to always ask myself, I love doing this, but does it love me back? This question is very important to me. You want what you put your hard work and effort into to pay off, but as I started to learn more about love, I came to the realization that if you truly love something, you can’t ask for anything in return. After that, it became really apparent that what I love does love me back, but I think I already knew that, I don’t have to stress about it.
Top by Helmut Lang, Bottoms by Acne Studios.
Woah, that’s some major pisces energy coming out right there!
Yo! That’s all I do! People will say something to me, they’ll ask me a simple ass question and I’m about to get deep.
On some soulful eye shit! What was the creative direction for the “Bulletproof” music video?
It was written by Alex Russell, who is a great friend of mine. He’s a great actor, comedian, and, if you want to throw this in there, he’s hot! He was one of the first people I sent the song to, and immediately after hearing it for the first time, he gave me a rundown of the whole concept: I’m a magician in a high school talent show kind of thing—some recreational YMCA talent show—and all of my tricks are pretty whack. Then I would do this one trick called the bullet catch, where a magician offers a loaded gun to someone in the audience and he has to catch the bullet with his teeth in between his hands. But in the he video, the women that I hand the gun to is like nah, I really want you to die, and I’m like yeah, that’s who I am. Shoot me, please, somebody.
How does this concept correlate with what the song is about?
The song, for me, is about trying to deny everything that you feel when you’re really crushing on somebody. Sometimes I try not to write from my own emotions because I feel like that shit is so...ugh. You just can’t do it all the time, you need to get someone else’s perspective in there, I think it’s kind of selfish not to. So for this particular song, I wrote from an imaginary perspective—I didn’t have anybody special in my life when I wrote it, and somehow I’ve managed to manifest this scenario into reality. The song grapples with the phenomena of loving someone but trying to play it cool, but it hurts to play it cool, so then you start acting only out of pride. You stop texting back because because you think well shit, I need to chill, I need to relax, and then before you know it you’re too late. That’s what the Bulletproof is about, recognizing when it’s too late. But it’s cool because it’s a great situation with a great person.
There’s always time. You know what? On my train over to work this morning, a man had a stroke in my car—he just dropped. The whole thing was so crazy because I was thinking about time right before it happened—I was thinking ok, how many times have I been on this train at this exact time to get to the same place? Just some existential stuff, and then he dropped. It’s corny but it’s so important to take every moment seriously and jump at the opportunities that come your way, to put pride and ego and all that shit to the side because we don’t have time to revel in negativity. We do, but we don’t.
Exactly. Why are we spending so much time worrying and feeling a certain type of way when we could just enjoy all the beautiful things happening around us.
I feel, especially because it’s such a simple realization to have yet such a difficult practice to implement. We put ourselves through so much shit, we love to agonize.
Yep, agonizing. Pain becomes suffering. Some shit does hurt, but there is no need to revel in it. We do have time, we’re not on our way out.
Wetsuit by Calvin Klein 205W39NYC.
I hope not, shit! One thing that music has the power to do that nothing else does?
Music has the power to actually be understood. Some people are more visual, some people are more auditory, but I feel like with music, no matter if you speak the language or not, you can understand it, you get it. I’m pretty sure there are people that don’t speak any english who cry to White Ferrari.
I agree with that, classical music is also a great example of this, especially because it is nonverbal. If you and a friend were to listen to a piece together and concoct a narrative in your mind while you listen, I’ve found that the respective narratives you create are strikingly similar. It’s the same kind of deal.
Yo, I’m with that. Going back to what we were just talking about with time, with my twenty-eighth birthday that just came up, I’ve been thinking a lot about how you had to be a certain way to get where you’re going, especially earlier in life. Now that I’m about to be balling, now that I’m really about to do it, I’ve been thinking about how I can really enjoy nothing so that I can truly enjoy everything. This book that I’ve been reading called Letting Go has been helping me with all this. I put on the new Solange album and I read my book and I think, this is what enjoying yourself is—I put my phone on airplane mode and I just kick it.
One event that changed the way you understood music, that changed your relationship with music?
When I toured with HOMESHAKE in Europe. My manager set it up, and we all became really great friends almost off the bat. We did a show in London and it was packed the fuck out—I ain’t never performed to this many people overseas before. Peter was like I loved it! And I was like you did? And then every night after that he was like play this, this, this! The whole experience of playing live shows, touring with an actual band, and seeing people who don’t know me from a can of paint truly fuck with my sound, it changed the way that I made music. I used to create from the perspective of what’s gonna make the 808 hit here? What’s gonna make the people go crazy? Now I know that people are gonna fuck with this shit anyway, so now I’m just thinking what’s gonna make their heads explode? So that’s what I’m trying to do, but in a calm, orderly fashion.
Yin-yang, very balanced. What’s something about yourself that makes you really proud?
I’m really proud that I’m able to hold space for people. I care so much about my friends, so much, my family, so much. As a man, your shoulders have to be big, you have to be able to take on so many responsibilities, any kind of crisis. To be able to deal with what you have going on and still have space for other people? That’s something that makes me really proud of myself.
I love that. What smell would you associate with “I love you, but you already knew that” ?
You know when you light a match, then put it out? That smell.
Check out the exclusive music video for "Bulletproof" below.
Directed by Spencer Ford, Written by Alex Russell, DP: Adrian Nieto, Made by Jimps.
