Blowin' Indie Wind Sondre Lerche Raises Spirits with Debut Album 'Faces Down'

Author: Erika Mercer

It's like eating a pack of Starburst candies -- the flavor is fruity and sweet, sugary and satisfying. Each one is pleasingly chewy and sticky, leaving you minutes afterwards to unearth tiny strawberry-tasting remains hiding between your teeth's crevices.
Even the more bitter flavors -- lemon, for example -- never seem too sour, always promising a sweet aftertaste and a fresh change from the cherry flavor that you unwrapped and relished just before.
Over the past half-year, Sondre Lerche has dazzled the American music scene with his blue eyes and astounded critics with his quirky, expressive voice.
Already with his first full-length album, "Faces Down," the 20-year-old Scandinavian singer/songwriter has attained the number one spot on Rolling Stone's "Hot Picks" list, along with receiving a number of other enthusiastic reviews.
Born and raised in Bergen, a small town and well-known hub for musicians on the west coast of Norway, Lerche, the youngest of four siblings, began taking guitar lessons at age eight and wrote his first song, "Locust Girl," at age 14. With the help of his sister, who worked at a local bar, he was able to land live shows at venues in his area already at an early age.
In addition to sixties pop records with which he grew up, Lerche was also heavily influenced by the local Norwegian music he heard at the clubs and bars where he played.
In a recent interview, the singer commented on his respect for the local Norwegian music scene, along with his desire to develop beyond that scene: "You see what you want to be and what you don't want to be mirrored in your own town."
Lerche successfully uses his musical background and cultural roots as a foundation for his music, then builds on this foundation to create sounds that transcend locality and bear universal appeal.
In February 2001, Lerche released his first EP, entitled, "You Know So Well," under Virgin Records. The album found immediate and enormous success in Norway, and was followed several months later (Aug. 2002) by a second EP, "Dead Passengers."
Then, in Sept. 2002, Lerche released "Faces Down," the album that has since dubbed him the "wunderkind" of indie music and initiated a tour with singer/songwriter Beth Orton.
"Faces Down" enlists Frode Unneland on drums, H.P. Gundersen on piano, Kato Aadland on guitar, Joergen Traen and Morten Skage on bass, Lillian Samdal on back-up vocals, and Lerche on keyboard, guitar and vocals.
Sounding something like David Gray with a Norwegian accent, Rufus Wainwright on anti-depressants or the Beatles gone indie, Lerche's music is accessible and original, melodic and eccentric.
He creates catchy folk and pop songs using complex musical arrangements and a range of different styles from psychedelia to Brazilian pop.
His voice, a lilting falsetto, fluctuates between sounding rich and deep to high and soft, effortlessly expressing a variety of emotions within one song -- emotions, though, which always return to an optimistic note.
Lerche's songs are relentlessly sweet and hopeful, even the slower, drippy ballads -- the lemon candies in the pack -- such as "Side Two," the fifth song on "Faces Down," in which he sings about "these tortured souls [...] the tortured young and old."
Yet just when the lyrics begin to despair, they are uplifted by Lerche's sweet, youthful voice.
While this cheerfulness is mostly rewarding, at times it results in songs that border on sounding too cute and now and then cross the line into corny.
"Modern Nature," for example, the sixth song on the album, tends towards sounding overly cutesy with its light, show-tune tone.
Lerche, in a duet with Samdal, croons, "This is how it was meant to be," and the listener can't help picturing Fred Astaire singing away in the rain.
In general, though, the songs are sweet, colorful and fun--they celebrate music and the love of music.
Lerche's impressive lyrics (with only minor exceptions--forgivable for a writer whose native language is not English) add to the caliber of his songwriting: in "Sleep on Needles," the third song on "Faces Down," Lerche sings, "I am but a fool to play unaware of things / If I treasured the truth, I would tell it to you?"
"Faces Down" is an accomplished debut album from a talented young songwriter. Lerche combines a strong musical background with innovative techniques and immense natural talent to produce an album that is charming and vibrant.
For more information on Sondre Lerche, check out his website at www.sondrelerche.com, a comprehensive site including a biograhy, lyrics, guitar TAB, tour info, photos and videos.
Lerche will be spending the next few months on a U.S. tour.