Sondre Lerche rocks the Cat's Cradle

All photos by Kevin Norris

Norwegian singer-songwriter Sondre Lerche stopped at the Cat's Cradle Thursday night, just two days after the release of his new self-titled album.

The show was an energetic and musical triumph, adding more rock energy to both the new songs and catalog favorites. After opening with the mellow "Ricochet," he launched into the upbeat "Private Caller" and the energy stayed high throughout most of the set.

Acoustic based tunes like "Two Way Monologue" were given an extra jolt of energy, or the Phantom Punch treatment (his high-energy 2007 rock album), as Lerche stayed on electric guitar most of the night.

The evening showed off the talents of Lerche's drummer Dave Heilmann, whose precision and ferocity were heard throughout the set. He shined on the driving new song "Go Right Ahead," a highlight of the set.

The set closed with a blistering version of "Say It All," and Lerche wasn't gone long before he returned to plan an audience request called out earlier in the night, which he then said that he wouldn't play. It took him a moment to figure out the chords, and he then played a solo version of "I Cannot Let You Go."

He was joined by Heilmann for a blistering extended version of "Dead Passengers" before closing with "Modern Nature," which got the crowd singing along.

Kishi Bashi started out the evening. I only caught the last few songs of his set, but he was a serious looper. He layered violin and keyboard parts into an extensive wall of sound under his deep baritone voice. He sounded pretty good and later served as keyboardist and violinist in Lerche's band.

Nightlands were up next, with a lush wall of sound that was heavily layered and processed by effects units. Frontman Dave Hartley used a harmoinzer on his voice throughout most of the set, which was excessive, but overall, the set sounded pretty good. One highlight was the band's cover of "Trouble" by Lindsey Buckingham. Hartley also latter served in Lerche's band on bass.

Sondre Lerche set list
Ricochet
Private Caller
Living Dangerously
Tied Up to the Tide
Two Way Monologue
Go Right Ahead
Phantom Punch
Red Flags
Coliseum Town
Domino
When the River
My Hands Are Shaking
Heartbeat Radio
Say It All
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I Cannot Let You Go
Dead Passengers
Modern Nature

Sondre Lerche




Nightlands