El Perro del Mar + Lykke Li + Anna Ternheim - Middle East Upstairs (Cambridge, MA; May 9, 2008)

When you arrive at the Middle East Upstairs at ten o’clock on a Friday night, there are two things you do not expect: one, that the club is already filled to capacity; and two, that the sound of a PBR tall boy opened at the bar will drown out the music.

However, this particular Friday night promised something different, especially with the show being billed as “An Evening with El Perro del Mar.” The salon feel evoked by the tour title was evident throughout the three-plus hours of melodic, danceable, introspective Swedish music. Even the short breaks between acts felt organically part of the overall set list.

The evening opened with Anna Ternheim, who courted the sold out crowd with lush vocals over acoustic guitar and keyboard. Ternheim’s fame is well established in Sweden, having earned a Swedish Grammy for Best Newcomer of the Year in 2004, and a 2005 nomination for Best Female Artist, Best Lyricist and Best Songwriter. In filling the opening slot, Ternheim kept this Boston audience at full attention with her warm, unassuming stage presence. Her interactions were short offering quick context for her lyrics. Introducing the song “I’ll Follow You Tonight,” she noted that it was about leaving a club “just like this one”:

Caught by what comes by
Stand alone without a fair chance tonight
Here again by your side when
They turn on all the lights
Yes I’ll follow you tonight

For someone who pens tales of haunting, mystery filled encounters, her choice of two cover songs interrupted the mood. Fleetwood Mac’s “Little Lies” and David Bowie’s “China Girl,” while included on her eponymous EP, did not carry the same emotional texture as her surrounding songs. Fortunately, this was a minor departure, and she offered a strong selection of tracks from her many EPs and the recently released album Halfway to Fivepoints.

If Anna Ternheim represents a critical appreciation for Swedish singer songwriters (evidenced by the AP photographer who furiously captured her set and a portrait session afterward), the arrival of Lykke Li to the stage provided an indie blogosphere counterpoint. Lykke Li has been pointed as an artist to watch, and the youthful audience was not only ready to watch, but to dance.

Accompanying Lykke Li were three skinny, grey-suited lads, filling the stage with crisp percussion, punctuated guitar and rollicking organ. Lykke Li fronted the center mic with bombastic enthusiasm, exhorting for more dancing with a toss of her jacket, only to end a song declaring that love sucks, then replacing the jacket to sing about loneliness. The crowd sang and moved along with her while she added bursts of noise with cymbals positioned behind her. As the initial drum beats of “Little Bit” bipped and bopped, the crowd roared. Live, Lykke Li forewent the soft breathy restraint that marks her most popular single for an exuberantly open declaration:

Think I’m a little bit
Little bit
A little bit in love with you
But only if you’re a little bit
Little bit
Little bit
In lalalala love with me

This offer was enough for many to become temporary Swedes (for some, a transformation made prior to arriving at the venue, by donning thin Nordic-esque headbands and speaking with omljud-tinged vowels).

The headline act for this twelve-city North American tour was El Perro del Mar, the performing name of Sarah Assbring and her four piece backing band. Yet, the audience’s interest did not seem to match her headlining status. She opened her set alone on stage as some people made their way to the doors. Even the photographer who had given so much attention to Anna Ternheim was conspicuously absent from his front row perch. Checking the band website offers some explanation. For their subsequent UK dates, El Perro del Mar will be supporting Lykke Li, evidence of the increasing popularity of Lykke Li’s catchy dance pop.

Perhaps it was the emotional crash from too much sugary dancing, perhaps it was the band’s unknown song catalogue, or perhaps there is such a thing as an overdose of Swedish songstresses that accounted for the emotional letdown of the audience. In fact, El Perro del Mar put on a great show, filled with tight musicianship and clear vocals. The somber yearning of “Party,” (“Is it so hard to see?/ I don’t want to stay at home/ I just want to be a part of it”) succinctly reflects the lush melancholic tone of their set.

There was a familial quality between El Perro del Mar and their fellow Swedes who took the stage earlier. They shared the same drum kit and keyboard, and stood stage-side and sang along to the others’ songs. But something, maybe the slightly gimmicky recorder that opens “Glory to the World,” kept a slight distance between the audience and the headlining band.

It seems the transition from studio to live performance caused this disconnect. Where Ternheim and Lykke Li add texture and energy to their live sets, El Perro del Mar lacks the overall orchestration found on From the Valley to the Stars. In a more lounge like setting, with a proper selection of horns and strings, El Perro del Mar might reach stronger results. Here, they merely provided a bookend, albeit a beautiful and soothing bookend, to a wonderful night of Swedish song. 

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