El Perro del Mar

“God Knows (You Gotta Give to Get)”
from the album El Perro del Mar
2006
iTunes

MP3 – “God Knows (You Gotta Give to Get)” [right-click/save-as]

So much ’60s pop was about youthful innocence, from Phil Spector’s lush kiddie symphonies to Brian Wilson’s psychedelic paeans to teenage love. El Perro del Mar’s self-titled debut explores the kind of prom-night heartbreak that could easily follow such naïve optimism in a similarly grand style. “I don’t wanna be a drag,” singer Sarah Assbring explains in her irrepressibly cute Swedish voice on “Party.” She brings the whole sock hop down, to exquisite effect. Strings and saxophones swoop in over a Motown beat on “God Knows (You Gotta Give to Get)” — probably the album’s happiest song, though that’s not saying much. Other elegant laments are equally steeped in beautiful sadness and ’60s pop history. Only “It’s All Good” breaks the melancholy spell, giving in to cheerful la-las and perky acoustic guitar before finale “Here Comes That Feeling,” a Brenda Lee cover, retreats to the old familiar loneliness. It’s an emotion that nearly every teenager knows well, and it can make for some pretty great pop music, too. As Assbring sings on “Dog”: “Oh, what a feeling.”