Liv 4...Sondre Lerche

A week or two ago I saw the movie Dan in Real Life with one of my favorite actors of the moment, Steve Carell. Despite hearing some less than stellar reviews I was very excited about seeing it, and I really enjoyed it. It reminded me a lot of The Family Stone: similar basic plot that makes you laugh and cry. (Although I did significantly more laughing at this movie than I did when watching The Family Stone.) But what struck me most about the movie was the music. I seemed to remember hearing something about the same person doing most of the music.


The next day I decided I would buy the CD, as I always need new music to blast in my car while driving my minimum of 10 hours a week to and from work. And I quickly fell in love with the music of Sondre Lerche. Although I had never heard of him prior to this the Norwegian singer has recorded 4 previous albums (which I am in the process of procuring). Some of the songs on this CD are recycled from previous albums, but several are new and many are also instrumental.



The music is very laid back and, simply put, it just makes me happy. It's also the kind of album I can listen to again and again without getting tired of it. Sondre has a unique voice that sounds great on its own but also is phenomenal on his duets with Regina Spektor and Lillian Samdel.



My favorites are the Sunday drive of "Hell No", the duet with Spektor; "To Be Surprised", a more buoyant number; and a cover of Pete Townshend's "Let My Love Open the Door" (easily already one of my all-time favorite songs). Sondre's version is heavy on strings and a clap (a la "I Want to Hold Your Hand"...not the STD) at the end that will make you want to join in. It's more fun than the original (if that's even possible) and I don't mind admitting that I have a hard time suppressing a smile every time I hear it. Plus, if you've seen the movie it's reminiscent of one of the sweetest scenes.



This is one of the few albums that I can listen to without my finger itching to hit that Seek/Skip button. I especially recommend it for driving in the car (although I'm listening to it now and it's perfect typing music as well). In my experience it'll make a long commute fly by and help your blood pressure not to spike when that jerk cuts you off.



Oh, and one more thing: the icing on the cake. Probably the funniest scene in the movie (at least in my opinion, which I regard pretty highly) is when Dan's two brothers (played by Dane Cook and Norbert Leo Butz) sing an impromptu song about a girl from their childhood who Dan is going on a blind date with. They affectionately (or not so affectionately, depending on how you look at it) refer to her as Ruthie "Pigface" Draper. Enough said. I'll admit I was slightly disappointed when I saw the song wasn't on the soundtrack, but I hadn't really gotten my hopes up too high. Well, needless to say that the first time I listened to it and realized there were 17 tracks and not the 16 it had listed on the CD I was a little more than ecstatic. Hallelujah for hidden bonus tracks...it was as glorious as I remembered.