Sarah Blasko - El Perro Del Mar

Sarah Blasko's third album, As Day Follows Night, was released in June to a warm critical reception. Blasko, adamant that she "wanted to do a really different record," dispensed with long-time collaborator Robert F Cranny (with whom she recorded The Overture and the Underscore and What the Sea Wants, the Sea Will Have) for new inspiration. She found it  in the form of Bjorn Yttling, of Peter, Bjorn & John – a relationship that Blasko describes as "strange and often difficult, but great." Blasko made contact with the Swedish producer and, interested response in hand, set off for Stockholm.

The album that resulted from her Swedish sojourn is part an introspective poetic, musical pastiche. The lyric are more candid and personal than her previous albums and the music more diverse. Blasko traverses new territory here. It is a distinctly jazzy album with blues, flamenco, gypsy and soul inflections. "I just figured that I needed to do something quite different and it seemed like this was sincerely where I was at," she says. "To me, jazz and blues and soul music made sense. The songs are personal and they are really dear to me. I have a very broad musical taste and those styles of music just felt natural."

As Day Follows Night is also an exercise in pacing, progressing a track at a time from slow ballads to more rapid-paced tracks. "I spent a lot of time trying to get the order of it right and I wanted it to be quite a diverse record and for it to be playable, not too sad or serious. The music kind of took it into a different place."

Musical support came from Ytlling and his band of jazz-inclined Swedish session musicians. Blasko speaks of them warmly. "I loved their style of playing, particularly the drummer Fredrik Rundqvist. He is such an interesting musician and the drums are a really big part of the record so it was good to have someone so great."

Blasko's own musicians will recreate this great vibe in October at the Enmore Theatre. The show promises to be both aurally and visually inspiring. "I think the main thing is creating an atmosphere, getting the feeling of being in a jazz club. Intimacy is important for a show when you are playing in bigger venues and I want whatever is going on visually to enhance the music." Blasko is secretive about the details of the show. "I don't want to give too much away, but it's really important for me to do something a bit different and to create something exciting." Erin Moy