Norwegian singer-songwriter Sondre Lerche has released a new album, Avatars Of Love dropped on 1st April 2022 via PLZ/ InGrooves. The double album boasts a tracklist of 14 songs, included within the album are five collaborative tracks featuring Aurora, Chai, Felicia Douglass, Mary Lattimore, Ana Müller and Rodrigo Alarcon.
Speaking on his newest release, Sondre Lerche gives the following statement, “This is without a doubt the biggest, boldest, most complex thing I’ve ever done, At the same time, it was also the easiest, most natural, and most liberating. As an artist, it’s the kind of project you always dream about.”
Since its release, the album has attracted multiple rave reviews. International network American Songwriter gave the album four stars and sang its praises in their review, “An impressive accomplishment, Avatars of Love probes the depths of desire to extraordinary effect.” NPR’s New Music Friday Podcast named the release one of the best albums of the week, Cyrena Touros gave the following review, “A journey start to finish… I feel like I could spend six months just listening to this one album and I could find so much to mine and explore.”
Also released on 1st April 2022 was the official music video of the album’s closing track “Alone In The Night”. The beautifully simple music video shows Sondre Lerche working and performing alongside the track’s featured artist Aurora. The press release provides a statement from Lerche discussing the collaboration, “‘Alone In The Night’ was the first recording I did for the Avatars of Love album. It put everything in motion, and surprised me greatly. I heard AURORA’s voice singing it in my mind one day when I was out running in the sun. So I asked her if she’d sing it with me. It felt extra special, because I had just returned home to Bergen after 15 years of living in the US. And she was one of the first to greet me there.”
The 39-year-old musician continues to discuss the track’s meaning, “It’s a song about what happens to our bodies and souls when we fall in love, and then again through the passage of time, when we age and die. It’s ultimately about our memories and dementia. How frail we really are, and how heartless the process of aging can be to lovers.”
Lerche has also released a ten-minute music video for the album’s title track, the visual masterpiece for “Avatars of Love” attracted much attention for its artistic appeal and also garnered great feedback from Flood Magazine and Stereogum. The track was also named one of the best songs of the week by BrooklynVegan and Under the Radar.
The multi-talented singer is currently heading a new art exhibition with Norwegian artist Nikolai Torgersen. The artists’ creative partnership can also be seen in the visuals for Avatars of Love which were drawn by Torgersen. The duo’s exhibit is being held at Kulturhuset I Bergen located in Norway and will run until 24th April 2022. The exhibit premiered on 31st March 2022 and features over forty pieces taken from and inspired by Lerche’s new album, all proceeds accumulated from the auctioned pieces will be donated to those in poverty and children affected by substance abuse.
Click here to stream/download/buy Avatars Of Love.
Avatars Of Love Tracklist
LP1
1) Guarantee That I’d Be Loved
2) Dead of the Night
3) Will We Ever Comprehend (feat. Rodrigo Alarcon, Ana Müller
4) Cut
5) Turns Out I’m Sentimental After All
6) What Makes Me Tick
7) My Love Still Waits
LP2
8) Avatars of Love
9) Summer In Reverse (feat. CHAI)
10) Now She Sleeps Beside Me
11) Special Needs (feat. Felicia Douglass)
12) The Other Side of Ecstasy
13) Magnitude of Love (feat. Mary Lattimore)
14) Alone in the Night (feat. AURORA)
