Sondre Lerche
Phantom Punch

THE REVIEW

From the cold of Norway, the voice of a young songwriter returns to freeze our poor acoustic membranes during this winter, as lacking in emotions as it is mild in temperature.

The young man in question is Sondre Lerche, already famous for his previous works, such as the excellent 'Two Way Monologue' from 2004 (among the best albums of that year) or 'Duper Sessions' from last year, created with the Faces Down Quartet, in which he ventured into a genre (jazz) seemingly far from his own.

With this 'Phantom Punch', he returns to his roots, to authorial pop rock, to indie, in short, to the guitar. His muse, as he himself declared, remains Elvis Costello, from his early days, as evident in the tavern rock of "The Tape". "Tragic Mirror" and "John Let Me Go" instead have that Beatles-esque aftertaste already present in 'Two Way Monologue', while the concluding "Happy Birthday Girl", with its hypnotic guitar work, recalls the unease of Mr. Jeff Buckley.

This does not mean at all that Lerche lacks originality or personality. And this album proves it, presenting us with yet another transformation of an artist who is never still, in continuous evolution, who knows how to handle pop material as few can afford to nowadays.