Join shape-shifting Swedish singer, instrumentalist and composer Sarah Assbring, widely known as El Perro Del Mar, when she makes a highly anticipated return with new album Big Anonymous. Her music, renowned for its intricate layers and profound depth, has garnered widespread acclaim and adoration. With support from composer and musician Hanakiv, who intertwines meditation piano-based ambient music with elements from classical and electronic music.

Big Anonymous is the eighth album from El Perro del Mar, the shape-shifting Swedish singer, instrumentalist and composer who has been one of the most consistently intriguing pop artists of the 21st century. El Perro del Mar is the alter ego of Sarah Assbring and was named after a stray dog she once encountered on a Spanish beach, who lifted her spirits at a fragile moment. The musical path she’s followed since has constantly surprised. Every time you think you’ve put her in a box, this Schrödinger’s Dog eludes you.

Her first, self-titled album was released in 2005 and its original blend of melancholic guitar songs and a girl-group sound garnered glowing reviews. Her second album, From the Valley To The Stars (2008), was a suite of keyboard-driven mystic ballads that won Swedish Radio’s award for Best Pop Album. She evolved into dark pop and electronic dance with the albums Love Is Not Pop (2009), which included the now classic Change of Heart, and Pale Fire (2012), and then into global pop with a political edge in Kokoro (2016) and We Are History (2018). Her 2020 album Free Land was a clarion call for artistic freedom and featured Blood Orange as a guest artist. She has toured internationally with Lykke Li, José González, Taken by Trees and TV on the Radio, while remixers of her songs include Robyn, Vessel and Saint Etienne.

She has co-written the upcoming album by the futuristic pop artist Zhala and is increasing demand as a composer for stage and cinema. For Royal Swedish Opera she co-wrote – with regular collaborator Jacob Haage – the score for Hlín Hjálmarsdóttir’s dance piece Riptide (2021), and she is creating the scores for two films: Four Little Adults by Selma Vilhunen, and Filip Jan Rymsza’s Object Permanence.

This event will last approximately 2 hours, including an interval.

About Hanakiv:

Hanakiv is a composer and piano player from Estonia (now based in London) who creates meditative piano-based ambient music with elements from classical and electronic music. Her debut album Goodbyes was released on 10th March 2023 on Gondwana Records and draws on influences as diverse as Tim Hecker, Björk ‘Vespertine’, Arvo Pärt, Erkki-Sven Tüür and Aphex Twin as well as her own cultural heritage.

Music has an important part in Estonian culture, especially choir music and its traditions, but Hanakiv also draws on her love of nature – the beautiful Estonian seaside and forests – and on her time in Iceland. However, it was moving to London that gave her the freedom to make her own music: ‘London gave me the freedom and courage to really be who I am (as a person and musically)’ and her heritage and her new home both offer inspiration to Goodbyes, as Hanakiv moves between these two opposite places, a bustling metropolis and a small country full of nature, drawing inspiration from both as she sculpts her own voice.