Sondre Lerche doesn’t own a diary. He thinks they are for girls. He does however admit that if he were to keep a diary, which he obviously does not, it would, without a doubt, be titled Duper Sessions.
His newly released album, Duper Sessions, combines his incredibly smooth vocals and guitar with his band, the Faces Down Quartet. His background musicians were not in attendance last night at a semi-private, semi-formal gathering of his closest friends, er….fans, at the first of his two-night performance at Hiro Ballroom in New York City. It was just Sondre and his guitar, which is, as most of you know, not too shabby.
His set was a mix of his old stuff, tapped in with his new stuff, with additional sounds of his super-new stuff from his next-to-be-released album, Phantom Punch. Confusing? Not really. Apparently Duper Sessions was not what Sondre had originally intended for his release. The album he originally had in mind was to be collaborated with an American producer, and was put on a six-month hiatus. Desperately wanting to get back together with his band and play, they decided to make a “while we’re waiting” album that ended up becoming a collection of the most romantic lyrics I have ever heard. After I got over the fact that I was there with my platonic gay boyfriend and had no chance of getting any, I learned to enjoy the music and realize that this is a wonderfully enjoyable album made better by the fact that Sondre never disappoints a live audience.
Sondre got a little crazy at this set. He discussed the downfalls of steroids, attempted to beat a record and play his song “Across the Land” as fast as he could (played this 1:14 song in :55), and between songs gave his audience a bit of a comedy act. He’s loveably neurotic, thinks Elvis Costello is the greatest living songwriter (as do I), couldn’t stop playing with his new distortion pedal, and is actually quite funny.
After I got over the fact that Sondre wasn’t actually singing these songs of love to me personally, I left Hiro ballroom completely fulfilled. This guy’s got talent. I’ve been a fan for a while, yet have never seen him live. Let me tell you, I fell in love with his boundless talent; at least that’s what I wrote in my diary.
-Story by Rebecca Silverstein
