 |
FEATURES |
|
|
|
|
|
|
HOT OFF THE PRESS |
|
|
|
|
|
|
CONTEST |
|
|
|
|
|
|
MUSIC OF THE WEEK |
|
|
 |
|
Courtney Love
Mono
Watch new single, 'Mono' of off Courtney Love's "America's Sweetheart" - In Stores Now
Watch Video
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Jersey
Saturday Night
Watch Jersey's new video for, "Saturday Night" from Generation Genocide.
Hear Audio
Watch Video
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FEATURES: |
|
|
|
SONDRE LERCHE - SUPERLATIVE SOPHOMORE ALBUM - TWO WAY MONOLOGUE
TO BE RELEASED MARCH 9, 2004
Everywhere you turn in the music industry these days, people will tell you that music is in crisis. Then along comes Sondre Lerche to restore your faith and whose second album, Two Way Monologue really should be subtitled: Crisis? What Crisis?
Sondre Lerche(pronounced Sond-ray Lur-kay) now 21, emerged from Bergen, Norway in 2002, and released his debut album Faces Down. Ambitious, and packed full of gorgeous melodies, Faces Down was the perfect antidote to the manufactured synthetic pop choking the imagination out of modern music. As impossible to categorize as you would imagine from a list of influences that include; Burt Bacharach, Jeff Buckley, High Llamas, Elvis Costello, Steely Dan, Beck and Cole Porter, the album was an instant hit in Norway and critically acclaimed in Europe, Britain and North America, where it made Rolling Stone’s top 50 albums of 2002 list.
"Lerche is the most rare and marginalized of commodities in music: the incurable romantic. So incurable he would never dishonour the ailing legacy of pop with cliché or half-heartedness. Fortunately, he has the songs, the voice, and the face to corrupt for the better a generation of listeners that never knew it was settling for less." Chartattack, 2003
Extensive touring enhanced Sondre’s reputation, solidifying him as a proficient and apt solo performer. He has returned to Canada on repeated occasion. In 2003 alone, Sondre persevered through the SARS scare to silence the always talkative Toronto crowds with his charming and engaging solo shows at the Horseshoe Tavern (May), Lee's Palace (June), and culminating in a sold-out event at the El Mocambo last November. The El Mocambo show is listed on Sondre's website (www.sondrelerche.com) as "the best gig of the North American tour." The overflowing audience at the club, with their rousing applause and sing-songing along with almost every note, clearly concurred with the sentiment.
And now, Two Way Monologue is here. A glorious second album of mature and melodic songs. The first single and video to be released will be the album's namesake Two Way Monologue, and is brimming with Sondre's usual masterlike lyrical and musical handiwork. It’s an album of breath-taking diversity and imagination that refreshes popular music as a creative force.
"Lerche manages to speak the language of love in a unique, previously unheard dialect. This follow up to Faces Down continues to refine his easy way with melody, adding tasteful deployments of strings to the songs acoustic frameworks. Recommended." Access, 2004
Two Way Monologue was recorded, in Bergen by HP Gundersen and Jørgen Træen, and a core band Sondre has consistently worked with, known as "The Faces Down." According to Sondre, they were central to the spirit of the album. “I wanted the band performance to be the basis of most of the songs. That’s what makes them shine,” he says. “The swing of the musicians playing together is probably what I’m most happy about on the record.”
Just as much attention went into the arrangements, from the accordion on Maybe You’re Gone, to the pedal steel on Stupid Memory and even the French horn on the instrumental Love You. But such embellishments were always for sound musical reasons, not simply for show. "The record had to be directed by my own ambition and ability and not by the budget. I was determined not to get carried away,” Sondre insists.
Canadian tour dates for Sondre are expected for May 2004, and will be fully confirmed shortly. It is known though, that Sondre will be launching the North American portion of the 2004 tour in Toronto, and routing will include stops in Montreal and Vancouver. Sondre will be bringing along his backing band, "The Faces Down" for all of the upcoming shows marking the first time he'll be touring with a full band.
Crisis? What crisis?
www.sondrelerche.com / Two Way Monologue will be released on March 9, 2004.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
