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Setlist
Tour Dates
05/02/17 San Francisco, CA Independent 05/04/17 West Hollywood, CA Troubadour 05/05/17 Anaheim, CA House Of Blues 05/06/17 Phoenix, AZ The Crescent Ballroom 05/10/17 Austin, TX Antone's 05/11/17 Houston, TX White Oak Music Hall 05/12/17 Dallas, TX Dada Dallas 05/13/17 New Orleans, LA One Eyed Jacks 05/19/17 Goteborg, Sweden Kulturhuset Oceanen 05/20/17 Stockholm, Sweden Kagelbanan 05/22/17 Copenhagen, Denmark VEGA House 05/24/17 Amsterdam, Netherlands Sugar Factory 05/30/17 London, United Kingdom Borderline 05/31/17 Paris, France La Boule Noire 06/02/17 Berlin, Germany Maze 06/15/17 Bergen, Norway "Bergenfest" Read More
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With just four days before it was supposed to start—The ‘Pleasure’ was almost over before it began—
After an almost fifty-date tour of Norway, singer-songwriter Sondre Lerche was poised to bring his show over to North America, only to find out that visa petitions for his keyboardist and bassist had been declined, some five months after their initial filing.
But, thanks to the quick last-minute thinking of drummer Dave Heilman (Jupiter One), the duo of Jordan Brooks and Alan Markley were swiftly brought on board to learn the songs in mere days, so the tour could successfully continue, including a recent stop at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis.
In mathematics, a Dedekind Cut (named after Richard Dedekind) is a partition of the rational numbers into two non-empty sets A and B; in music, it’s the alias of New York-based experimental artist Fred Welton Warmsley III, who began the evening under a single dim green mini-spotlight, casually taking to the stage and quietly seating behind his consoles to begin his instrumental set.
After working with hip hop group Pro Era, Warmsley released his debut studio album, $uccessor (NON Worldwide Records) last November, a dark meld of breakcore, ambient, noise, drone and other sounds.
Warmsley sat unassuming in near darkness the whole time, in a plaid shirt never speaking with head down concentrating on creating his sound, for the duration of the set. The result was something highly cinematic, the beats of a Run Lola Run, the dark electro of Tron, and ambiance of Eno’s work that cried out for a visual accompaniment of some kind.
The ‘Pleasure’ then began as Sondre Lerche and band strode out for their ninety-minute headlining set in support of Lerche’s latest, Pleasure (PLZ Records) released in March, and beginning with the new album’s opening track, ‘Soft Feelings’.
The Bergen, Norway native turned Brooklyn resident was ready to get the house dancing, inviting everyone to cut loose as he introduced ‘Legends’, with its rapid and throbbing backbeat. After previous release, Please, found the whimsical Lerche somewhat melancholy (the result of a divorce), the new album and tour confirm he’s in better spirits and determined to create a dance party at every one of his shows.
“You’ll appreciate this…when it’s over”, he said introducing the new ‘I Know Something That's Gonna Break Your Heart’ explaining it’s necessary to explore “the more unpleasant corners of the human psyche, in order to feel the contrast of what is what”, following that with the very early ‘No One’s Gonna Come’ from 2001.
“Do you guys slow jam in Minneapolis?” Lerche asked, already knowing the answer and alluding to Prince’s mastery of the form, before playing a turned inside-out, torch song-style version of 2006’s ‘Minor Detail’, with Lerche explaining he didn’t know how to sing the song correctly, when first recorded.
Lerche was left solo with guitar for the new ‘I’m Always Watching You’, a song that could easily be a companion piece to The Police’s ‘Every Breath You Take’, singing most of the song off-mike to the front of the hushed crowd.
The new ‘Violent Game’ stretched out to over seven minutes, starting charmingly with guitar riffs then building and ending with a high volume sonic cacophony before dialing it back down for ‘Reminisce’ , looking back in sadness with its lyric, “Are you dancing without me, dancing with tears in your eyes to this old song”.
After that emotive song, Lerche promised “all pleasure from here on out, it’s all up hill”, determined to change the mood back into the joyous dance party.
The upbeat ‘Despite the Night’ and its “I don’t wanna go home” chorus was bumpered by main set closer, ‘Bad Law’, feel good and bouncy from the melody, though with lyrics that belie something different.
“Some nights I remember all the verses… some nights only one…so let’s see” Lerche said, beginning the encore, solo and acapella with ‘Human Hands’.
Final song, ‘Private Caller’ morphed from its standard indie guitar folk sound at the four-minute mark, into a bass heavy club version (think Daft Punk, Darren Emerson, or Tiesto) that had Lerche jumping about the crowd in all corners of the room, and the audience pogo-ing along with him for a very extended thirteen-minute dance mix.
Sweaty, out of breath, exhausted but smiling, pleasure was in fact achieved, both by Sondre Lerche and band, and the appreciative, interactive audience as well.
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Dedekind Cut |
Dedekind Cut |
Sondre Lerche |
Sondre Lerche |
Sondre Lerche |
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Sondre Lerche at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (25 Apr 2017) |
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