Recorded at Duper, Gjoa, Sondre Cording Studios, Bergen, Norway; Blackwing Studios, London, England between November 1999 & August 2001.

This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.

Personnel: Lillian Samdal, Leslie Ahern, Helèn Eriksen (vocals); Marcus Holdaway, Brilliant Strings (strings); Frode Unneland (drums, percussion); Ole Ludvig Krüger (drums).

Recording information: Blackwing Studio, London, England (11/1999-08/2001); Duper Studio, Bergen, Norway (11/1999-08/2001); Gjoea Studio, Bergen, Norway (11/1999-08/2001); Sondre Cording Studio, Bergen, Norway (11/1999-08/2001).

Photographer: Bjorn Eivind Årtun.

Arranger: Jorgen Træen.

On his incredibly accomplished debut, FACES DOWN, young Norwegian singer-songwriter Sondre Lerche presents an elegant and heartfelt collection of alternative pop. Not even out of his teens at the time of the album's original 2001 European release, Lerche assuredly shifts between melancholy folk (the wistful "You Know So Well"), a playful vintage vibe (the ebullient "Modern Nature," later prominently featured in the movie DAN IN REAL LIFE), and even breezy bossa nova (the laid-back "Virtue and Wine"), often incorporating strings arranged by the High Llamas' Sean O'Hagan. For those interested in exploring Lerche's impressive catalogue, this is the best place to start.

Though he was born in the 1980s, Norwegian singer/songwriter Sondre Lerche seems to want nothing to do with the electronica and pop-punk sounds that fascinate most of his contemporaries; his songs -- with their rich and folky chord progressions, cheesy synth tones, quietly recorded drums, and swooning strings -- sound for all the world like products of the 1960s. Which is by no means a bad thing, especially when he's channeling the Beatles ("You Know So Well") or revisiting Tin Pan Alley ("Modern Nature," in duet with the winning Lillian Samdal) or getting all sentimental and bossa nova ("Virtue and Wine"). The song titles, you will have noticed, do not necessarily bode well for the lyrics; Lerche is not a native English speaker, and his sense of idiom isn't as developed as it probably should be if he's going to write songs in that language (sample couplet: "Once I believed we could approach this/Now I have faith placed in the things you call fate"). But the lyrics are not always embarrassing, and the melodies and arrangements are consistently attractive and involving enough to make up for it when they are. ~ Rick Anderson