Norway’s Sondre Lerche has as much charming arrogance and suggestive connotation as a winking smiley, but we love him for it. It’s this smugness that makes his lyrics so cheeky and honest. His clever poetic construction of lyrics has always reminded me of Jason Mraz before he sold out and lacked any distinctiveness (evidence: “I’m Yours") and Jamie Cullum for that likeable son-in-law voice which would accessible as a soundtrack for family gatherings at Christmas time. On the Dan in Real Life soundtrack (which propelled to higher fame for his big American fan base) he showed how in control of his sound he is, sticking to a certain style of accessibility.

 

On his latest work “Please” he lets go into a frenzy of unpredictable key changes and basically has a lot more fun letting the music do the talking. Lead single “Bad Law” is a grower because at first listen it’s startling wild with harsh guitar noise but the more you grow accustom to it, the more you respect it’s wit and ambition.

 

Sequential song titles Lucifer and After the Exorcism suggest a darker side but are still possessed by the same humour, suggesting an exorcism of the romantic kind. Although “Sentimentalist” does infact contain the pessimistic lyric: “A final farewell before everything falls down.” The prime highlight is the 6:15 epic “At Times We Alone” which is alluring, patient, echoey and feels personally important.

 

With age, he is ripened into more than just the next big European exploring the “Land of Opportunity”. MTH