story by Trish Bendix
photo by Mick Rock

Sondre Lerche is a heartbreaker - a Norwegian dream with shaggy blonde locks, bashful blue eyes and a guitar around his waist. His accent adds even more charm to his appealing personality that is full of youthful excitement. His music is sincere, romantic and smart, with lyrical metaphors like "everyone's a winner if the stadium is right / but rarely anything good comes out."

Lerche is a self-proclaimed pop artist. Every piece written about him thus far has proclaimed him this generation's Burt Bacharach and Norway's next A-Ha, though in comparison with the latter, he's had more success this side of the Atlantic.

"I think my music, it is pop music, but it's different kinds of pop music blended together," Lerche says. "Pop is like modern-day folk music. In the good old days, pop music was Burt Bacharach, jazz songs like Cole Porter and that stuff. That's the real pop music, and I want to continue bringing new influences into it."

LERCHE'S INNER VIEW "A lot of people call music pop and it's not about creative activities - it's finding a song that fits the video of someone who can't sing and can't perform. That's really making it hard for people who are creative to call their music pop music."

On Lerche's sophomore release, Two Way Monologue, he continues to create intelligent pop tunes that are not only catchy and melody-driven but offer generational influences. "I learn a lot from Brazilian music," Lerche explains. "And from the '60s and '70s, blending all kinds of stuff from the Western world with our own folk music and cool jazz.

Learning from the Rolling Stones and Beatles, too; bringing that kind of rhythm and melody feeling into their own folk music. All these great artists came about like Milton Nascimento. They had such a great spirit, crazy arrangements, catchy refrains, complicated production, all this blend of the difficult and accessible. What pop should be is a mix between these things."

In a decade where calling a musician's music 'pop' can carry a negative stigma, Lerche holds strong to the genre. "Creativity is the biggest problem," he says. "A lot of people call music pop and it's not about creative activities - it's finding a song that fits the video of someone who can't sing and can't perform. That's really making it hard for people who are creative to call their music pop music. They're afraid of being put in that category. My music is pop music."

As an unconventional pop star, Lerche is a mere 21 years with two albums under his belt and successful tours opening for both Ed Harcourt and Nada Surf. Lerche is now able to hold his own, headlining tours internationally. "I did all these opening tours last year and they were really great, great opportunities to introduce myself to the American audience," he says. "I'm really proud that I can now run my own show. I think it's really cool [to tour with others, and if the] offer comes I'll always do another support tour. It's cool to not always bear the total responsibility of the night."

One noticeable change from Lerche's first album, Faces Down, to Two Way Monologue is the additional instruments that layer each simplistic tune with counter-melodies and harmonic intervals. His tour will reflect the change, as he will have a full band to accompany his small stature and acoustic guitar.

"I'm really excited to do the band stuff now because I did 100 solo gigs last year, so I'm really psyched about finally having people to play with on stage," Lerche says. "It's going to be great to present something else. It's a different thing. On good nights, the magic that can happen when three or four people play together is even stronger than a good night with a solo show. I always hope for a good night out."

As Lerche's boyish face stares coyly out from the new album's cover, it's easy to imagine that he creates a fan frenzy, especially in America where the teens who used to fawn over choreographed singing groups are delving back into manufactured forms of "rock" music.

"The fans in America are really exciting, and cool," he declares. "They're very special because they make you gifts and give them to you after shows. They know lyrics, are really well behaved and are not making fools out of themselves. They have style, they have grace - it's fantastic! It's like nowhere else. I don't get fans like this in Norway."
Lerche may be a foreign figure, but he writes universally. "I want people to listen to my music and have a good time - dance and fall in love or whatever. It's great if music means something to people on a deeper level, if you can relate to lyrics and feel special. That's what I want to do when I hear music or see a movie. I want the music to be special to me, in someway made specially for me and fitting my personality."

After international success and now being legally able to have a drink in the American venues that he plays, Lerche is prepared for further progress. "If suddenly I got to do a tour on Mars and discovered that I have a huge audience there, that would make my day," Lerche jokes. "I just want to continue introducing my music to new people. There are a lot of people I want to meet and perform for that haven't heard of me and don't know how to pronounce my name. I want to continue playing and showing people what I do."

Sondre Lerche will play at Martyrs' May 19.