After the writing, recording, production and eventual release of Norwegian singer/songwriter Sondre Lerche's tenth full length album Avatars of Love, I don't think anyone including Lerche saw the career pivot that would follow. While Lerche often described himself as a crooner (on albums Pleasure and Patience most resolutely), his casting as Christian in the Norwegian production of Moulin Rouge! solidified that. It also ate up a lot of the time Lerche would normally reserve for writing and recording music and while we've gotten a slew of releases since 2022's Avatars of Love, they were most focused on exploring different facets of Lerche's interests. Sea of Sighs exploring the inherently music focused facet of Lerche as an ambient meditation on melodies and ideas past and Avatars of the Night revisiting Avatars of Love from varying perspectives: demo versions, reworks, remixes. Despite frequently posting studio updates and his yearly non-denominational year-end cover, Lerche hadn't really released a batch of all new original music since and these year he acknowledge that and decided to give listeners something to bide the time. Turning Up The Heat Again is a collection of three songs from a potential album Lerche's been too busy but hopes to eventually complete.
With songs named "After the Coup" and "Diplomacy", it's not hard to instinctually expect a political statement. Lerche admits himself that while he's never considered himself a political songwriter per se, the very nature of existing in modern times has seeped into his thoughts and feelings and color his lyricism. But also with jazz and tropicalia such prevalent parts of Lerche's musical DNA, it might've just been a matter of time. "After the Coup", the lead track, with its lilting melodies and Lerche's soft croon belies its role as rather tense call out of the "thoughts and prayers" crowd. Lerche starts hot: "There was a robber at the altar, no sign of mercy, sleight of hand or intervention, is it the fault of the assaulter or just the thoughts and prayers from everyone who just looked on". Lerche has always let the lyrics do much of the work in his songs and "After the Coup" is full of these lyrically fraught moments that Lerche delivers with incredibly relaxed aplomb. A young Lerche probably would've met the scathing lyricism with an equally intense energy but the juxtaposition of both Lerche's ease of delivery and initial sparseness of his accompaniment, highlights Lerche's critique of what it really means to practice what you preach.
"Turning Up The Heat Again" is a somewhat more standard Lerche song in that it's unabashedly a love song. And while it plays like a traditional love song where Lerche sings of being hard at work in the kitchen, as the song progresses it becomes abundantly clear "Turning Up The Heat Again" is a song about the art of songwriting. It's both a labor of love and Lerche's chosen profession.
Similarly, "Diplomacy" focuses on the lack of tangible solutions to fixable problems. Where "After the Coup" chides, "Diplomacy" throws up its hands. Also beginning with an excellent opening line: "Once you have broken almost everything, you say you'll start repairing broken things" Lerche's delivery is equally as cool as "After the Coup" as the lyrics get more biting. "After the Coup" on the surface seeks to understand, "Diplomacy" makes no such claims. Lerche frequently repeats the lyric "You never did make any sense to me" and throughout the song transitions from "All I have to offer is diplomacy" to "Just as I gave up on diplomacy, you couldn't make it make sense to me". The song is both tongue in cheek as Lerche's "attempts" to find common ground just make expressively clear his distaste and disillusion, as well as delightfully severe: the diplomacy in question just a blatant underscoring of negative qualities. "Diplomacy" also serves up a moment of jubilance (in this case defiantly so) reminiscent of "If Only" from Lerche's self titled. There's string flourishes, dynamic swells, a bass breakdown. It's downright celebratory and provides an absolute winning contrast to not only its lyrics but to the other songs on the EP.
It might not be in the style of Pete Seeger or Woody Guthrie but there's no denying Turning Up The Heat Again as a collection of protest songs. They just happen to be in Lerche's style. A style that's as ever changing as it is familiar. They're catchy, they're potent, and feature a boldness both in Lerche's lyricism as well as in his composition that I hope continues as he slowly shapes whatever musical direction these new songs will take. Until then, Turning Up The Heat Again is an excellent placeholder that both meets the moment while also giving hope for the future.
Sondre Lerche's Turning Up The Heat Again EP is out now. You can listen/download here.
