Track Listing

1. Love You
2. Track You Down
3. On The Tower
4. Two Way Monologue
5. Days That Are Over
6. Wet Ground
7. Counter Spark
8. It�s Over
9. Stupid Memory
10. It�s Too Late

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #136538 in Music
• Released on: 2004-08-16
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced

Album Description
Two Way Monologue sees Sondre fulfil the promise of his debut with an audaciously non-difficult second album of astonishing maturity and vividly melodic songs. From the fragile acoustics of the melancholic "It's Too Late" to the almost symphonic variations of the title track and on to the uplifting shiny-pop candy of "On the Tower", it's an album of breathtaking diversity and imagination that refreshes popular music as a creative force. The album, like its predecessor, was again recorded in Bergen with the same core band, known as the Faces Down. With influences covering the classic and timeless end of pop songwriting--Brian Wilson, Elvis Costello, Van Dyke Parks, Steely Dan, Cole Porter, High Llamas, Jeff Buckley and a name check in the sleevenotes to the "McAloon Brothers"--Sondre sounds like nothing else in the contemporary pop firmament, although Rufus Wainwright and Ed Harcourt, who Sondre recently toured the US with, are perhaps the closest comparisons. Two Way Monologue is a beautiful, eloquent and intelligent celebration of genuine pop music. Bereft of cynicism, swimming in a sea of melancholic joy, it will set Sondre on a voyage into oceans new.

Customer Reviews

A fragile gem
Leonard Cohen, The delgados, Pavement, Belle and sebastian, Flaming Lips, Beulah, Eels, Ben Kweller, Beach Boys, Beatles (circa Rubber Soul), Joyzipper, Elephant 6...and on and on. if you like any or all of these then I'd be pretty confused if you didn't fall in love with Sondre Lerche. True, it took me a few listens but a little difficulty can make the pleasure all the more intense when it does start 'to click.' Lush strings on the openers 'love you' and 'track you down' has something of the softest serge gainsbourg (perhaps it's the slight accent, Lerche is Norwegian) and the melancholy of Eels. 'Wet ground' is the off-kilterness of Flaming Lips or Pavement with a hook of a chorus reminiscent of the best of Belle & Sebastian and I'm shivering as I hear it now and write this. 'Counter Spark' leans towards the softest psych moments of The Zombies or, say, Apples in Stereo. Wrapped around these are a gentle and playful sound of a young guy, (Lerche is 19 or 20 like Ben Kweller), who is far too smart to be easily pigeonholed or to take the easy route of a thousand English bands (if you've read this far, you know who I mean).
Buy it. Love it. Don't leave him in the lerche (it had to be done).

Oooh la la
Its wonderful to hear talented songwriters ply their craft seemingly just for you. The songs are almost nonchalant in their apparant simplicity, relying on catchy melodies to entice their audience, but it is on closer and repeated listenings that the subtle tinges of electonics, occasional trumpets and strings make sense. The title track is the obvious standout track, swelling from a tentative strumming to a fully blown pop wonder. Fans of Belle and Sebastian, Cass McCombs, Kings of Convenience and The Beach Boys will find joy and beauty here.