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Sondre Lerche (; born 5 September 1982) is a Norwegian singer, songwriter, musician and actor. His
discography Discography is the study and cataloging of published sound recordings, often by specified artists or within identified music genres. The exact information included varies depending on the type and scope of the discography, but a discography entry ...
includes ten studio albums and multiple EPs.


Early life

Growing up in a suburb of
Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...
, Lerche was heavily influenced by 1980s pop. Lerche was fascinated by bands such as
the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
,
A-ha A-ha (often stylised as ''a''-h''a''; ) is a Norwegian synth-pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. Founded by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (guitars and vocals), Magne Furuholmen (keyboards, guitars and vocals), and Morten Harket (lead vocals), the band ros ...
,
the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...
, and Prefab Sprout, and began formal guitar instruction at the age of 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 the age of fourteen, Lerche penned his first song, "Locust Girl." Lerche performed acoustic gigs at the club where his sister worked while he was still under age. Norwegian producer H.P. Gundersen "discovered" Lerche, and began to mentor him, exposing him to diverse music genres, including
psychedelia Psychedelia usually refers to a Aesthetics, style or aesthetic that is resembled in the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience produced by certain psychoactive substances. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic ...
, 1960s pop, and mainstream Brazilian music.


Career

Lerche met with
Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...
-based manager Tatiana Penzo, leading up to a deal with
Virgin Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...
Norway signed in 2000. His popularity in his home country increased steadily, and, in 2000, he recorded his debut album, '' Faces Down''. ''Faces Down'' was not released until 2001, after Lerche finished schooling. In the interim, he was named Best New Act at the Norwegian Grammys (
Spellemannprisen The Spellemannprisen (also referred to as the Norwegian Grammy Awards) is a Norwegian music award ceremony presented by International Federation of the Phonographic Industry#Local associations, IFPI Norge and :no:FONO, FONO. It was first awarded i ...
) and performed locally in support of major acts such as
Beth Orton Elizabeth Caroline Orton (born 14 December 1970) is an English musician known for her "folktronica" sound, which mixes elements of folk and electronica. She was initially recognised for her collaborations with William Orbit, Andrew Weatherall ...
. ''Faces Down'' was officially released in Norway in September 2001 and gradually throughout all of Europe. Lerche toured with various acts, including his long-time idols,
a-ha A-ha (often stylised as ''a''-h''a''; ) is a Norwegian synth-pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. Founded by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (guitars and vocals), Magne Furuholmen (keyboards, guitars and vocals), and Morten Harket (lead vocals), the band ros ...
, in Oslo. Autumn 2002 saw the release of ''Faces Down'' in America and Lerche's first major tour of the United States. '' Faces Down'' was a hit in Norway and received critical praise in
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
and the United States — ''
Rolling Stone Magazine ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known ...
'' placed it in their top 50 albums of 2002. 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 Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host. According to ''Rolling Stone'', Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical ...
(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 ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' and ''
Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...
''. Devon Powers of ''
Popmatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...
'' 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. The jazz album was recorded in the fall of 2005 with his band the Faces Down and pianist Erik Halvorsen at Duper Studios in
Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...
. The album reached No. 21 on the
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
Jazz Albums chart. 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. In September 2009, Lerche released '' Heartbeat Radio'', to critical acclaim. While it maintained the studio polish of his groundbreaking debut, there was also a sense of musical adventure that mixed acoustic guitars with grand gestures of orchestral pop, elements of 1950s Jazz, 1960s and 1970s Brazilian psych-folk, and state-of-the-art 1980s pop masters such as Prefab Sprout,
Scritti Politti Scritti Politti are a British band formed in 1977 in Leeds by singer-songwriter Green Gartside, who is the sole remaining member of the original band. Initially formed as a punk culture, punk-aligned underground act influenced by leftist poli ...
and
Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1967 by the singer and guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and the bassis ...
. In his review, Mikael Wood of the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' 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." In June 2011, Lerche released the self-titled '' Sondre Lerche'', on his own Mona Records. Praised by ''Rolling Stone'', ''The New York Times'', ''Stereogum'', ''Filter'', ''Spin'', and ''Entertainment Weekly'' among others for its experimentation with contrasting musical sounds, this eponymous album contains Lerche's most interesting arrangements and catchy songwriting to date, but also some of his most somber and introspective. In the studio, Lerche wanted to explore his new creative alliances in Williamsburg, the Brooklyn neighborhood where he's lived on and off for the previous six years. The album was recorded – live in the studio – and mixed in a short but intense time period of three weeks. The sessions included fellow musicians – Midlake drummer McKenzie Smith, longtime producer/collaborator Kato Ådland, Dave Heilman (drummer for
Regina Spektor Regina Ilyinichna Spektor (, ; born February 18, 1980) is a Russian Americans, Russian-born American singer, songwriter, and pianist. After self-releasing her first three records and gaining popularity in New York City's Indie music scene, in ...
), and co-producer, mixer, and owner of Rare Book Room Studio, Nicolas Verhnes (
Spoon A spoon (, ) is a utensil consisting of a shallow bowl (also known as a head), oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery (sometimes called flatware in the United States), especially as part of a table setting, place setting, it ...
, Animal Collective). Lerche celebrated his 30th birthday with the release of his first live album, ''Bootlegs'', in 2012. Lerche wrote and recorded ''Please'' following his divorce from Mona Fastvold. The album, known as his "divorce record", was released on 23 September 2014 on Mona Records. "Bad Law" was released as the main single for the album in June 2014. On 3 March 2017, Lerche released his eighth studio album, ''Pleasure'', on the PLZ label. On 24 November that year the songs from ''Pleasure'' were also released in a stripped down solo version titled ''Solo Pleasure''. ''Solo Pleasure'' was released digitally on 14 February 2018. In April 2022, Lerche released a double album, ''Avatars of Love.''


Personal life

In 2005, Lerche married director and actress Mona Fastvold. They divorced in 2013. Lerche was in a relationship with writer and blogger Linnéa Myhre from 2013 to 2020. His current partner is photographer Hilde Solli, as of 2023. Lerche returned to Norway in 2020. Prior to that, he lived in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
and
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, New York, where he resided from 2005 to 2018. Sondre Lerche is the cousin of Norwegian rapper Lars Vaular. In 2012, they collaborated on the single "Øynene Lukket". Lerche discovered a talent and joy for running in 2015 and has since completed
marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...
s in New York, London, Berlin and Norway. His personal best time is 2:55:51 in 2020.


Discography

* '' Faces Down'' (2001) * '' Two Way Monologue'' (2004) * '' Duper Sessions'' (2006) * '' Phantom Punch'' (2007) * ''
Dan in Real Life ''Dan in Real Life'' is a 2007 American comedy drama film directed by Peter Hedges, and stars Steve Carell, Alison Pill, Juliette Binoche, Dianne Wiest, John Mahoney and Dane Cook. This is the first Touchstone Pictures film to be distribut ...
'' (2007) * '' Heartbeat Radio'' (2009) * '' Sondre Lerche'' (2011) * ''Please'' (2014) * ''Pleasure'' (2017) * ''Patience'' (2020) * ''Avatars of Love'' (2022)


Filmography


Awards

*Newcomer
Spellemannprisen The Spellemannprisen (also referred to as the Norwegian Grammy Awards) is a Norwegian music award ceremony presented by International Federation of the Phonographic Industry#Local associations, IFPI Norge and :no:FONO, FONO. It was first awarded i ...
(2001) *Alternative Pop/Rock Album, ''Avatars of Love''
Spellemannprisen The Spellemannprisen (also referred to as the Norwegian Grammy Awards) is a Norwegian music award ceremony presented by International Federation of the Phonographic Industry#Local associations, IFPI Norge and :no:FONO, FONO. It was first awarded i ...
(2022)


Notes


References


External links


Official websiteTiny Desk concert for NPR
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lerche, Sondre 1982 births Living people Norwegian male guitarists Norwegian multi-instrumentalists Norwegian male singer-songwriters Norwegian singer-songwriters People educated at Langhaugen Upper Secondary School Spellemannprisen winners Astralwerks artists 20th-century Norwegian guitarists 21st-century Norwegian guitarists 20th-century Norwegian male singers 20th-century Norwegian singers 21st-century Norwegian male singers 21st-century Norwegian singers Grönland Records artists EMI Group artists Marathon runners