I could have sworn that we had featured Sondre Lerche previously but on closer inspection his name cropped up in an interview with Das Body back in 2023; it seems he guested for them at a seminal gig at Parkteatret in Oslo just after the pandemic which seems to have electrified the audience even more than usual where that band is concerned.
Anyway, he just released a new single, ‘Love Is All’, which is the final taster for his forthcoming album ‘Acrobats’, out 21st August via PLZ / Virgin.
Two previous singles were ‘Little Kids’, a ballad recounting a sad story of a precocious love that was destined never to be and ‘Follow the River’, an odyssey of indulgence in love and desire, in which the connection of two people is pitched as a rebellion against the harshness and atrocities of the world.
In the sprawling, almost nine minute sentimental chamber pop ballad ‘Love Is All’ he contrasts the simplicity of two people finding each other, and love, in a bar against the lack of cohesion in a complex world that has been engulfed by man-made disasters and summarised in an impressive line as “Not all is love/but love is all”.
In fact the song is replete with sharp lyricism:
“On a night so precious and long/with everything that threatens to go wrong/the burden of hope so strong/and we just go on…”
Providing comfort is Solveig Wang’s soothing clarinet, against the backdrop of a synthesised maelstrom. And there is a message, I am certain, in that it is the clarinet that features predominately in the outro, the instrument that provides the resolution to the piece.
There’s something about this song that resonated with me immediately. It might be an offspring of Sinatra (‘Strangers in the Night’) or Louis Armstrong (‘What a wonderful world’). Not in the style or melody but in the positivity it engenders.
His lyricism is exceptional. This is the sort of stuff I would imagine being written by Elbow and his diction counts amongst the most lucid I have encountered.
In fact I’d go so far as to say this is one of the best songs I’ve heard all year so far.
The album ‘Acrobats’ which is his first full-length collection of entirely new music in over four years, will continue in a similar vein, a reflection on the tension between falling in love and living through a period of global unrest and unfathomable human suffering.
Sondre Lerche will embark on an extensive headline tour in support of the new album, which will take him across the UK, Europe and the US and including a six night residency at Parkteatret in Oslo. Perhaps Das Body will guest for him.
Actually, the UK is a single date in London, which is disappointing but something we’ve come to expect; hopefully that decision can be revisited.
Find him on:
Website: https://www.sondrelerche.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sondrelerche/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sondrelerche/
