Review: Sondre Lerche - Phantom Punch

I think it's fair to say that The Music Sluts are pretty big fans of Norwegian wonderboy, Sondre Lerche. Ever since his debut, Faces Down, Miss Modernage and your sluts have been following and publicly cheering for Sondre in the loudest ways possible. And that's not just because we secretly want to put him up on our futons to play in our living rooms every evening; only partly.

After Faces Down, Sondre filled out his sound beautifully with Two Way Monologue. He then opted to go the jazz route on last year's Duper Sessions and now he's decided to bust out the electric guitar and rock your respective socks off with Phantom Punch.

When I saw Sondre at Bowery Ballroom earlier this year, and I got a taste of the new material, I declared it very Pavement-esque with hints of We Are Scientists. Well, now that the album is complete, I must say that the album is definitely more garage-y than I had anticipated it being. This is not to say that Sondre has totally ditched his core sound and vocal range. For example, the album's opening track, 'Airport Taxi Reception' would have fit beautifully somewhere on Two Way Monologue, and 'Tragic Mirror', with its gentle acoustic strumming brings to mind early 18-year old naive Sondre. However, this is without a doubt, Sondre's most testosterone-filled release to date, as proved by the Idlewild-like 'The Tape' and surely by the Strokes-influenced title track.

While critics and Sondre-heads really slammed/were disappointed by Duper Sessions, I can predict this release resonating with both reviewers and long-time fans just the same. It has the strength/punch we all knew Sondre was capable of (but holding back), as well as the melodic song structure we've come to love. Kudos Sondre, well done, yet again!

Phantom Punch comes out on Astralwerks this February.

MP3: Sondre Lerche - Airport Taxi Reception