Sondre Lerche
Encyclopedia
Sondre Lerche (ˈsondrə ˈlærkə; born 5 September 1982) is a Norwegian
singer, guitarist
, and songwriter
.
, A-ha
, the Beach Boys
, and Prefab Sprout
, Lerche began formal guitar instruction at age eight. Not being satisfied with classical lessons, Lerche's teacher introduced him to Brazilian music (such as Bossa Nova
) and thus formed the foundation of Lerche's vast array of complex melodies and chords throughout his music today. At age fourteen, Lerche penned his first song titled, "Locust Girl." Lerche performed acoustic gigs at the club where his sister worked while he was still under age, and was ‘discovered' by Norwegian producer H.P. Gundersen. Under Gundersen's mentorship, Lerche was exposed to diverse music genres, including psychedelia
, '60s pop
, and mainstream Brazilian music
, broadening his appreciation for eclectic music styles. Around this time Lerche also met up with Oslo
-based manager Tatiana Penzo, leading up to a deal with Virgin
Norway. His popularity in his home country increased steadily, and in 2000 he recorded his debut album, Faces Down
.
Faces Down
was a hit in Norway and received critical praise in Norway
and the United States
— Rolling Stone Magazine
placed it in their top 50 albums of 2002. He toured in America and Europe.
The songs from Faces Down had been completed before winter 2000 but postponed for release until Lerche fulfilled several academic requirements. In the interim, he was named Best New Act at the Norwegian Grammys (Spellemannprisen) and performed locally in support of major acts such as Beth Orton
. Faces Down was officially released in Norway in September 2001 and gradually throughout all of Europe. Lerche toured with various acts, including a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to share the stage with his long-time idols, a-ha
, in Oslo. Autumn 2002 saw the release of Faces Down in America and Lerche's first major tour of the United States. He released the live/studio collection Don't Be Shallow EP
the following year. In 2003, he toured with another one of his musical heroes, Elvis Costello
(they toured together once again in 2005).
In 2004 his second album was released, Two Way Monologue
, also produced by Gundersen. The album displayed more of Lerche's ability to span many different styles—from pop-like and upbeat tracks to more mellow or melodic tunes. It was very well received, with positive reviews in Rolling Stone and Pitchfork. Devon Powers of Popmatters
praised Sondre's "contagious musical sensibilities, exhilarating vigor and downright stupefying songcraft," and noted that "Lerche manages to both push himself and maintain an allegiance to his ways -- something artists twice his age have trouble doing.".
On 27 February 2006, Duper Sessions
was released. It is a jazz album recorded in the fall of 2005 with his band the Faces Down and pianist Erik Halvorsen at Duper Studios in Bergen.
His February 2007 release, Phantom Punch, is a rock album with a more aggressive sound than his previous work. Lerche and the Faces Down recorded and mixed the album in Los Angeles in April and May 2006, with producer Tony Hoffer
. He also composed the musical score of the movie Dan in Real Life
.
In September 2009, Sondre released his boldest and most challenging record to date, Heartbeat Radio
, to extremely good reviews. While it maintains the studio polish of his groundbreaking debut, there’s also a sense of musical adventure that mixes acoustic guitars with grand gestures of orchestral pop, elements of 50s Jazz, 60s and 70s Brazilian psych-folk, and state-of-the-art 80s pop masters such as Prefab Sprout
, Scritti Politti
and Fleetwood Mac
. In his review, Mikael Wood of the L.A. Times wrote, "No matter what genre he’s working in — fuzzy garage rock, breezy vocal jazz, acoustic folk-pop — this young Norwegian singer-songwriter crafts catchier choruses than many musicians who’ve been working twice as long as he has." Allmusic Guide's Tim Sendra called Heartbeat Radio Sondre's "best work to date," and noted:
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
singer, guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
.
Career
Sondre Lerche was born in Bergen, Norway. Growing up, Lerche was heavily influenced by the '80s pop that emanated from his older siblings' rooms. Compelled by a defining fascination for bands such as The BeatlesThe Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, A-ha
A-ha
A-ha were a Norwegian pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. The band was founded by Morten Harket , Magne Furuholmen , and Pål Waaktaar...
, the Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
, and Prefab Sprout
Prefab Sprout
Prefab Sprout are an alternative English pop rock band from Witton Gilbert, County Durham, England who rose to fame during the 1980s. Eight of their albums have reached the Top 40 in the UK Albums Chart, and one of their singles, "The King of Rock 'n' Roll", peaked at number seven in the UK...
, Lerche began formal guitar instruction at age eight. Not being satisfied with classical lessons, Lerche's teacher introduced him to Brazilian music (such as Bossa Nova
Bossa Nova
Bossa Nova may refer to:*Bossa nova, a style of music*Bossa Nova , a dance form associated with the music*Bossa Nova , a 2000 film*Bossa Nova - album by John Pizzarelli...
) and thus formed the foundation of Lerche's vast array of complex melodies and chords throughout his music today. At age fourteen, Lerche penned his first song titled, "Locust Girl." Lerche performed acoustic gigs at the club where his sister worked while he was still under age, and was ‘discovered' by Norwegian producer H.P. Gundersen. Under Gundersen's mentorship, Lerche was exposed to diverse music genres, including psychedelia
Psychedelic music
Psychedelic music covers a range of popular music styles and genres, which are inspired by or influenced by psychedelic culture and which attempt to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues-rock bands in the...
, '60s pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, and mainstream Brazilian music
Music of Brazil
The music of Brazil encompasses various regional music styles influenced by African, European and Amerindian forms. After 500 years of history, Brazilian music developed some unique and original styles such as samba, zouk-lambada, lambada, choro, bossa nova, frevo, maracatu, MPB, sertanejo,...
, broadening his appreciation for eclectic music styles. Around this time Lerche also met up with Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
-based manager Tatiana Penzo, leading up to a deal with Virgin
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
Norway. His popularity in his home country increased steadily, and in 2000 he recorded his debut album, Faces Down
Faces Down
Faces Down is the first album released by Norwegian singer/songwriter Sondre Lerche, in 2001. It was released in 2002 in the USA, and in 2003 in Japan...
.
Faces Down
Faces Down
Faces Down is the first album released by Norwegian singer/songwriter Sondre Lerche, in 2001. It was released in 2002 in the USA, and in 2003 in Japan...
was a hit in Norway and received critical praise in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
— Rolling Stone Magazine
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
placed it in their top 50 albums of 2002. He toured in America and Europe.
The songs from Faces Down had been completed before winter 2000 but postponed for release until Lerche fulfilled several academic requirements. In the interim, he was named Best New Act at the Norwegian Grammys (Spellemannprisen) and performed locally in support of major acts such as Beth Orton
Beth Orton
Beth Orton is a BRIT Award–winning English singer-songwriter, known for her 'folktronica' sound, which mixes elements of folk and electronica. She was initially recognised for her collaborations with William Orbit and the Chemical Brothers in the mid 1990s. However, these were not Orton's first...
. Faces Down was officially released in Norway in September 2001 and gradually throughout all of Europe. Lerche toured with various acts, including a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to share the stage with his long-time idols, a-ha
A-ha
A-ha were a Norwegian pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. The band was founded by Morten Harket , Magne Furuholmen , and Pål Waaktaar...
, in Oslo. Autumn 2002 saw the release of Faces Down in America and Lerche's first major tour of the United States. He released the live/studio collection Don't Be Shallow EP
Don't Be Shallow
Don't Be Shallow is an EP by Sondre Lerche, released as a limited edition on 23 September 2003. It comprises two songs left over from the 2000 album Faces Down , and two home recordings produced in 2001 , followed by four exclusive live bonus tracks from Lerche's winter/spring 2003 U.S...
the following year. In 2003, he toured with another one of his musical heroes, Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
(they toured together once again in 2005).
In 2004 his second album was released, Two Way Monologue
Two Way Monologue
Two Way Monologue is the second album release by the Norwegian singer/songwriter Sondre Lerche, released in 2004.-Track listing:All songs written by Sondre Lerche.#"Love You" – 1:37#"Track You Down" – 4:38#"On the Tower" – 3:49...
, also produced by Gundersen. The album displayed more of Lerche's ability to span many different styles—from pop-like and upbeat tracks to more mellow or melodic tunes. It was very well received, with positive reviews in Rolling Stone and Pitchfork. Devon Powers of Popmatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
praised Sondre's "contagious musical sensibilities, exhilarating vigor and downright stupefying songcraft," and noted that "Lerche manages to both push himself and maintain an allegiance to his ways -- something artists twice his age have trouble doing.".
Duper Sessions
Duper Sessions is the third album by Norwegian singer/songwriter and guitarist Sondre Lerche, released in Norway on February 27, 2006, and in the U.S. on March 21, 2006. The album entered the Billboard Official Top Contemporary Jazz Albums Chart at #5...
was released. It is a jazz album recorded in the fall of 2005 with his band the Faces Down and pianist Erik Halvorsen at Duper Studios in Bergen.
His February 2007 release, Phantom Punch, is a rock album with a more aggressive sound than his previous work. Lerche and the Faces Down recorded and mixed the album in Los Angeles in April and May 2006, with producer Tony Hoffer
Tony Hoffer
Tony Hoffer is an American producer, guitarist, and music mixer who is credited for his work on multiple platinum-selling albums including The Kooks, The Thrills, Beck, Supergrass, Turin Brakes and Air...
. He also composed the musical score of the movie Dan in Real Life
Dan in Real Life
Dan in Real Life is a 2007 American comedy-drama film directed by Peter Hedges, starring Steve Carell and Juliette Binoche.-Plot:Dan Burns is a newspaper advice columnist, a widower, and a controlling father to his children Jane, Cara and Lilly in the New Jersey suburbs. His column is in...
.
In September 2009, Sondre released his boldest and most challenging record to date, Heartbeat Radio
Heartbeat Radio
Heartbeat Radio is the fifth album by Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist Sondre Lerche. The album was released in the U.S. on September 8, 2009 and in Europe on September 14...
, to extremely good reviews. While it maintains the studio polish of his groundbreaking debut, there’s also a sense of musical adventure that mixes acoustic guitars with grand gestures of orchestral pop, elements of 50s Jazz, 60s and 70s Brazilian psych-folk, and state-of-the-art 80s pop masters such as Prefab Sprout
Prefab Sprout
Prefab Sprout are an alternative English pop rock band from Witton Gilbert, County Durham, England who rose to fame during the 1980s. Eight of their albums have reached the Top 40 in the UK Albums Chart, and one of their singles, "The King of Rock 'n' Roll", peaked at number seven in the UK...
, Scritti Politti
Scritti Politti
Scritti Politti are a British band, originally formed in 1977 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. Although there have been various changes to the line-up, Cardiff-born singer-songwriter Green Gartside was the founding member of the band and the only member to have remained throughout the group's...
and Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
. In his review, Mikael Wood of the L.A. Times wrote, "No matter what genre he’s working in — fuzzy garage rock, breezy vocal jazz, acoustic folk-pop — this young Norwegian singer-songwriter crafts catchier choruses than many musicians who’ve been working twice as long as he has." Allmusic Guide's Tim Sendra called Heartbeat Radio Sondre's "best work to date," and noted:
Rather than being some kind of surprising U-turn, the album is a consolidation of everything he’s done so far. It has his best songwriting, most effective vocals, and most accomplished sound, and stands as some of the best modern pop around at the end of the decade.
Albums
- Faces DownFaces DownFaces Down is the first album released by Norwegian singer/songwriter Sondre Lerche, in 2001. It was released in 2002 in the USA, and in 2003 in Japan...
, September 2001 (October 2002 U.S.) - Two Way MonologueTwo Way MonologueTwo Way Monologue is the second album release by the Norwegian singer/songwriter Sondre Lerche, released in 2004.-Track listing:All songs written by Sondre Lerche.#"Love You" – 1:37#"Track You Down" – 4:38#"On the Tower" – 3:49...
, March 2004 - Duper SessionsDuper SessionsDuper Sessions is the third album by Norwegian singer/songwriter and guitarist Sondre Lerche, released in Norway on February 27, 2006, and in the U.S. on March 21, 2006. The album entered the Billboard Official Top Contemporary Jazz Albums Chart at #5...
, February 2006 - Phantom Punch, February 2007
- Dan in Real LifeDan in Real LifeDan in Real Life is a 2007 American comedy-drama film directed by Peter Hedges, starring Steve Carell and Juliette Binoche.-Plot:Dan Burns is a newspaper advice columnist, a widower, and a controlling father to his children Jane, Cara and Lilly in the New Jersey suburbs. His column is in...
, October 2007 (soundtrack) - Heartbeat RadioHeartbeat RadioHeartbeat Radio is the fifth album by Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist Sondre Lerche. The album was released in the U.S. on September 8, 2009 and in Europe on September 14...
, September 2009 - Sondre LercheSondre Lerche (album)Sondre Lerche is the self-titled sixth album by Norwegian singer-songwriter Sondre Lerche. According to Lerche's official website the new album contains a "raw, spontaneous, instinctive and heartfelt sound" and features collaborations with Midlake drummer McKenzie Smith, longtime producer Kato...
, June 2011 - Muppets: The Green AlbumMuppets: The Green AlbumMuppets: The Green Album is a cover album of popular Muppet songs by various contemporary music artists. The album was released by Walt Disney Records on August 23, 2011 on CD and as a digital download in the iTunes Store....
, August 2011
External links
- Official web site
- Sondre Lerche interview at SlantMagazine.com, 2002
- Interview with Sondre at SomethingGlorious.com
- Live performance at SXSW 2007
- Live WI performance 4/24/07
- YeboTV.com Sondre Lerche Interview
- Sondre Lerche Interview
- Interview with Sondre Lerche at ion magazine
- Sondre Lerche performs a Tiny Desk concert for NPR Music
- Popmatters review of Two Way Monologue
- Pitchfork review of Two Way Monologue
- Coke Machine Glow review of Duper Sessions
- Neumu review of Duper Sessions
- The Onion AV club review of Phantom Punch
- Prefix Magazine review of Phantom Punch
- L.A. Times review of Heartbeat Radio
- Spin review of Heartbeat Radio
- Washington Post review of Heartbeat Radio
- New York Times' review of Sondre Lerche live at Bowery Ballroom, Sept. 2009
- New York Times' review of all-star tribute to The Who at Carnegie Hall, March 2010
- Interview with Sondre at Florida Times-Union