El Perro del Mar is a collector of words, words she makes music out of ever since she was a child. In a commercial and captitalistic world today, solitude requires active planning. The swedish musician El Perro del Mar reflects upon it. She discusses the nowadays commercial orientation of music industry and how it forced her creativity on the contrary. Her experimental freedom and music is a melancholic oasis, tune in.

Where are you from and where are you based?
I’m originally from a suburb outside Gothenburg, Sweden. Today based in Stockholm.

El Perro del Mar, what does ”sea dog” mean to you?
It’s a word that kind of works as a gateway into me. It contains all that I contain (when I’m not concerned with mundane things) - melancholy, simple happiness, solitude and silence and space for words and music.

Do you also speak spanish?
I speak a little bit. I love languages so I really do try to soak every language in when I can.

Are you also a model? What do you enjoy the most about modeling?
I do not know if really could consider myself a model but I’ve been in modelling situations and I really do love it. It seems strange to say but being an artist and being used to being in front of the camera in that position is so much harder than just focusing on an aesthetic fashion focused depiction of some kind of bodily presence. I don’t have to bring so much into it. I love the experimental freedom of trying out different things, in every kind of way, about modelling. The frameless possibilities of creating a world of your own. That’s really what I love most about making music too but I guess I found that harder. Maybe because it’s too close to home...

What drew you to the music industry and what is the fertilizer to your work today?
I’ve been making music since I was a child. It’s been in a need in me as long as I can remember. However, I feel very disconnected to the music industry. I feel as if what my work is about has got less and less to do with the actual music industry. The music industry where it’s at right now is really at its worst and you constantly have to renew your artistic vows to keep making your thing the way you want it to be able to love what you do. I love making music but not at any price. The way the industry works today thinking of music in terms algorithmic calculations frightens me and has got me moving further and further away from any kind of commercial or mainstream aim. To me, that’s a good thing.

What are your main impulses to write music about?
It makes me happy. It gives me a purpose in life. It’s a means to reflect, move on and grow while creating something independent of you at the same time.

Tell me about your favourite performance venues!
I love performing at unusual venues such as museums or galleries spaces, small churches or gardens. I performed at a villa garden in Venice a couple of years ago. It was very dreamy. I love venues with a history like a castle garden in Sevilla where I played once. Ordinary rock venues are very undreamy so I prefer unusual circumstances before anything else.

Would you say that you’re pragmatic, or an escapist? Are you a 9 to 5’er or a ponderer? What is your most caracheristic trait(s) and how does it come to expression in your creative process?
I’ve had to become a mix both. Since I became a parent I have to organise my work and my creative flow but I very much still need to be a ponderer. I need to solitude which is sometimes hard to get as a parent but I have my ways. I must have that. I don’t know if I’m the right person to distinguish my traits but I work with patterns and patterns like phrases so I guess what look for in my process is a way to get in to a mood, a meditative groove that bring ideas. I also collect words - both my own and others - in notebooks that I carry around with me. They are what become my lyrics.

If you could change or delete one thing in history or in this world what would that be?
Capitalism as we know it.

Who is your hottest icon?
Daniel Day-Lewis

Upcoming gigs or tour?
I’m working on a performance piece for The Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm to be premiered in November 2019. This will also be an album in its own to be released later on.