Sondre Lerche "Sondre Lerche" — Album Review

I love albums that surprise you, and Sondre’s Lerche’s self-titled seventh album is one of those! To be honest, I’ve only heard the name in quick passing (in a musical conversation or online somewhere…not sure), so I went into the album blindly. However, as the 10^th and last track ended, I came out pleasantly happy with the tunes and can now proudly pronounce that Sondre Lerche is now in rotation in my iTunes playlist.

The Brooklyn-based Norwegian singer, songwriter, musician and film composer offers up a sorbet of indie-pop delights, musical vibrancy and lyrical wit that makes for enjoyable songs and even better Twitter status material. Every song is different in terms of tempo, beats, rhythm and so forth—so nothing ever really repeats…leaving you with something new with every track. A trait I greatly appreciate since an overload of too much of the same can get quite boring and redundant to the point where you feel if you’ve heard one track, you’ve heard them all.

“Ricochet” brings you in with its sweet, melodic tones under his angelic vocals that just flutter in your ears with each word. It’s as if he’s singing a story as he changes his pitch throughout the song, creating a very soothing effect as you listen. “Private Caller” introduces you to very catchy guitar riffs and lyrics that propel you to nod in unison with its heavenly chorus. There’s this very cool bassline about ¾ of the way in that really gets you nodding!

“Go Right Ahead” has this amazing beat that changes throughout the song that his vocals smoothly bounce to, causing your ears to feel as though you’re on this musical rollercoaster that’s quite fun! If you pay attention to the lyrics, you’ll have a few laughs here and there, as they are pretty entertaining. “Living Dangerously” puts a life less ordinary as the song’s theme in a very low-key tempo way. The beats sway nonchalantly to the quirky lyrics, making for an interesting combination for a song title that begs for something fast and hard.

In all, you’ll be quite entertained with Sondre Lerche’s latest album…and not just musically. Taking the time out to listen to and analyzw the lyrics will be a fun task!

Sondre Lerche will be playing the El Rey Theatre on Wednesday, June 29! You can buy your tickets here!

Words: Kristie Bertucci