Lerche’s North American debut CD on Astralwerks Records, Faces Down, is geared towards the vapid Britpop melodies of such commercial failures as Starsailor or Elbow. Norway’s new David Gray is only 19 and although his music writing skills are less pretentious than that of John Mayer, there is something overall uninspiring in his approach.

The first song on the album, “Dead Passengers,” is rich in lounge melodies and is complete with “doo-wop” backing vocals. In “You Know So Well,” Lerche sings maturely about broken love. “There is one thing I know/It goes like this/It’s that when I lose my sleep/It’s you I miss,” he pines. Surely this should make for a prime radio single if David Gray can’t seem to top himself with his own new album.

As the album progresses, there Lerche’s voice becomes increasingly familiar and sounds rather mature. The harmonies on such tracks as “Modern Nature” are soothing, as most of the album is, but nothing is too complex. After a while, the soft fluidity of the album becomes a reassurance. In comparison to some of his peers, Lerche writes about the little things in life, while addressing them on the macrocosmic level.

The solidity of the album comes in the diverse blend of styles incorporated in the music. Rather than necessarily imitate those whom he patterns his music after (Aimee Mann, Burt Bacharach, etc), Lerche uses his influences to forge his own path. While the songs have a similar tone, they’re not all generic and formulaic like much of the music that is written by other 19 year olds.

In some respect, this CD is a great debut recording from a young artist. He addresses the issues of Beck’s Sea Changes, but still has a lot of personal questions that aren’t answered. Unfortunately, it’s hard to see someone like Lerche writing such music as this.

Interestingly, the CD is enhanced, with a music video and a photo gallery that is viewable on your computer. For a debut CD, it makes me question Astralwerks’ promotion of Lerche as someone who will be appealing to younger audiences and divert them away from the current phase of teen-pop. If that’s the case, this is definitely the album that should do it, however, musically I would rather look forward to seeing where he evolves on his next album.

21 Nov 2002