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New York-based Norwegian troubadour Sondre Lerche<\/a> has been making melancholic pop since 2001 \u2013 songs full of heartbreak and lo-fi melodies. Lerche’s last full-length came out\u00a0in 2014;\u00a0Please<\/em> was called his self-proclaimed \u201cdivorce album,\u201d a solemn look back at a difficult time. To contrast the album, Lerche released a more uptempo, dancier, remix EP called\u00a0Despite the Night<\/em>.<\/p>\n

While there’s no set release date for Lerche’s forthcoming LP\u00a0Pleasure<\/em>, the singer-songwriter dropped pop-fueled “I’m Always Watching You” in October and a darker, alternate version called “I’m Always Watching You Too” in December. It’s a hazy dream that was a catalyst for the track.<\/p>\n

Before Lerche goes on tour this year, we caught up with him about his forthcoming release, how New York has influenced his music. and the most important lessons he has learned as a musician.<\/p>\n

Audiofemme: Are you releasing a new album?<\/b><\/p>\n

Sondre Lerche:<\/strong> I will eventually, yes. I\u2019m just sort of easing into it, I suppose. I released this song \u201cI\u2019m Always Watching You\u201d in two different versions. I\u2019m also releasing probably some more songs and doing this tour in April. By the time we\u2019re doing a year-end tour, there will be a new record.<\/span><\/p>\n

Can you tell me what the new record will be about?<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u2019s sort of a liminal-themed record. I feel like all the songs, one way or another, relate to being in limbo or being between two realities or two personalities. It\u2019s definitely some sort of aftermath after some sort dramatic events where you don\u2019t quite know what\u2019s what and you seek to only live in the moment because you can\u2019t stomach to look too far ahead or look back. It\u2019s pretty desperate, joyful, confused and explosive type of record where you seek to only be in the moment. That\u2019s why it\u2019ll be called <\/span>Pleasure<\/span><\/i>. For better or worse, it\u2019s about things that give you pleasure in the moment and also knowing full well that\u2019s not a place you can live or stay. For the existence of the record, it\u2019s where you are held captive in a sense.<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the biggest lesson you\u2019ve learned as a musician over the years?<\/b><\/p>\n

One of them definitely is that it pays to be stubborn. It\u2019s hard to navigate a world where you see yourself as an artist, but you have a lot of contract elements and you\u2019re exposing a lot of different sides to your personality that are sometimes in direct conflict with each other. I both have an outgoing entertainer and more secretive artist inside of me, and they both want to win. I think the one thing I\u2019ve learned is that it\u2019s okay to be stubborn and somebody needs to be stubborn on your behalf. It\u2019s probably going to have to be you. Everybody else can go either way. Nobody is going to feel as passionate about what you do as you. I think in the long-run that kind of stubbornness and focus is what builds character, and that character reveals itself over time. Maybe not in the moment, but you\u2019re building some sort of stamina and character at the audience you cultivate as you go along that you can believe in and trust even if you make some u-turns and left turns. You\u2019re not always going to make everybody happy, and it certainly isn\u2019t the artist\u2019s obligation to do so. But I think over time, character wins…I hope.<\/span><\/p>\n

Can you tell me about the meaning behind the song \u201cI\u2019ll Always Be Watching You?\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a song from my perspective about someone who has rejected a lover that he can\u2019t get over. It\u2019s navigating that feeling where you have no entitlement: you\u2019ve rejected this love \u2013 this relationship. But at the same time, you long for it and regret turning away from it. The only thing you have is social media and spying on the object of all this affection through all of these different vehicles that we have at our disposal. It\u2019s really sort of pathetic because it\u2019s someone who has rejected the real thing\u00a0but has been left with some pale replacement for real love or intimacy. That feeling intoxicated by the picture on an iPhone and knowing that you don\u2019t even deserve that because you turned it away is what it\u2019s about.<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the hardest part of making music for you?<\/b><\/p>\n

The hardest part is staying at it because we want to feel creative all the time, and you can\u2019t. So, it\u2019s frustrating when you can\u2019t be productive when you want to be productive. I think the hardest part is believing you will write something good again. It\u2019s pretty black and white. Sometimes when I write I feel like nothing good will come of this or I won\u2019t write something I\u2019ll feel motivated to share. When you\u2019re in that part of the process and not really feeling inspired, it just feels like there\u2019s no possibility of inspiration ever hitting you again. The biggest challenge is stay at it. Of course it helps a little bit to have done it over time because then you see the ebbs and flows of the process and you see that the inspiration will return. In the meantime, it\u2019s your responsibility to work, write, stay focused and be diligent and disciplined in your work: that\u2019s the job.<\/span><\/p>\n

Is there anything you would ever change about your career thus far?<\/b><\/p>\n

I take great pride in a lot of the songs I write, so it means a lot to me when I see it means a lot to people. It\u2019s not something to take for granted that it will even reach anyone. I\u2019ve been lucky enough that I\u2019ve had audiences across the world. Last year I did some bigger shows at festivals where I dared to think bigger in a sense for the first time in my life and create a show that was made for a bigger audience. That felt really scary to me because there\u2019s really nothing to hide behind if it doesn\u2019t reach a bigger audience or if it doesn\u2019t please a particular audience. It was called “Performance Please”. It was the scariest thing I\u2019ve ever done. It made me think how cool it was to communicate with a bigger audience and create a big show. I don\u2019t really have a big, mainstream audience anywhere, and I come from a more intimate world of communicating through specific music to a very specific audience who appreciates it. That\u2019s my core: my home. Sometimes I think it would be cool to paint with a really big brush on a stage \u2013 to make a big show on a big stage in front of a big audience if someday I have a big enough audience to justify that kind of work. We\u2019ll see.<\/span><\/p>\n

How did moving to New York influence a shift in your music?<\/b><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t really notice such a big shift. As a musician, I\u2019ve been traveling ever since my first record came out. All I know is moving around \u2013 I\u2019ve lived here and there, but moving to New York gave me some space to land and get away from everything once the tour was over and once any kind of trip I was on was over. I\u2019m sure it\u2019s opened my eyes to different music than I would have played in Norway or anything else. In New York, you see as a musician the world is yours in a weird way. The only thing you know is that everything is going to change no matter what you do. Everything will move, change, you will seek different inspirations and find different ways of expressing your emotions and you will feel new things that will make you question the work you did before. It\u2019s hard for me to pinpoint how New York specifically plays into that, but I do like how it feels like the center of a certain kind of world. I also like feeling like I can reject it and be alone with my writing. New York combines those things well.<\/span><\/p>\n