A Conversation with Sondre Lerche – HuffPost 9.22.14
Mike Ragogna: Sondre, you’re known for creating some of the lushest recordings in the singer-songwriter field. Your new album Please continues that tradition. At this point in your career, how do you envision Sondre Lerche’s mission as a creative artist?
Sondre Lerche: My mission is inevitably a bit selfish. I always trust that if I’m into something, others out ther might be into it too. I need to be fully motivated by what I make, in order to defend spending so much time on spreading it. Not to mention all the traveling. So I try to follow my own curiosity, first and foremost.
MR: How does Please add to the Sondre Lerche story?
SL: It’s the first record where I haven’t been fully in control over the recording, or even, my own life. It’s a bold, liberating addition, and hopefully it appeals in equal parts to people’s hips as their hearts.
MR: Are there any songs on the album that best reflect you as an artist at this moment and what are there any stories you can share about the songs and their creation?
SL: Well, it’s the first record I’ve done that thematically comes out of one experience. The emotions are multiple, as they always are, but it it’s a record that comes out of the end of a marriage. Stylistically, I think “Crickets” has an economy that I’d like to explore more. On this record, I recorded one song at a time, without thinking much about making a record. I also collaborated with many different producers and players, so it’s a record where I intentionally wanted to make room for surprises. Kjetil Møster’s sax solo at the end of “Logging Off” was a major surprise; that killed me. The way Kato Ådland mixed “At Times We Live Alone.” Steve Marion’s amazing guitar work on “At A Loss For Words.” Violinist Tim Fain’s wild string arrangement on “Lucky Guy.” I was energized as much by my band and all the contributors, as I was by the songs and my current situation.
MR: What are the main ways you’ve grown as an artist since your debut album Faces Down?
SL: To me, it’s hard to completely separate the artist and the person. When I wroteFaces Down, I was sixteen. Now I’m almost twice that age, so needles to say, I’ve changed in the ways anyone changes at that age. It’s not really different for artists, except we make music that sometimes identifies or reveals some of the changes. My early records seem to be more about an idealized state, how I would want my world to be, perhaps when I grow up. My recent work seems more concerned with figuring out how things actually are, which can be hard enough.
MR: What do you feel the most passionate about at this time in your life, especially things beyond music?
SL: I spent my entire teens just staying in and writing songs, so I’ve gotten quite passionate about having fun and enjoying myself and others lately.
MR: How has living in Williamsburg affected your perspectives and creativity?
SL: It’s so hard to say. I moved here in 2005, life changes regardless of where you go I feel. But I definitely enjoy disappearing into the vast cluster of creative forces, pretensions and ambitions that exists here. It’s both inspiring and intimidating. It keeps me on my toes, maybe more than staying in Norway would? We’ll never know.
MR: Do you miss living in Europe?
SL: I get to go back so often I hardly get the chance to miss it. Going next week and then doing a three-week tour there, so I’ll get my fix!
MR: What is your advice for new artists?
SL: Spend more time on your songwriting. Don’t jump on trends. It looks stupid.
MR: Any shot “Locust Girl” will be revisited on a future release?
SL: Not unless I hit a sever writer’s block sometime. When I was fifteen, I thought for sure that would be my first single, but then I wrote “You Know So Well,” “No One’s Gonna Come,” “Sleep On Needles,” and so on, and realized that there’s always a better song ahead of you. You have to believe.
MR: What should we know about Sondre Lerche that we don’t already know?
SL: You already know too much. I can’t think of anything more worth telling. Is this where people say they make a mean lasagna? Well, I don’t.
MR: [laughs] Beyond Please, do you have any plans for the future?
SL: For the first time in my life I have no plans. I love it.