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Mar 08, 2022 By Mark Redfern Photography by Tonje Thilesen

Norwegian-born/American-based singer/songwriter Sondre Lerche is releasing a new double album, Avatars of Love, on April 1 via PLZ/InGrooves. Now he has shared another song from it, “Summer In Reverse,” which features Japanese quartet CHAI. It was shared via a video that also features CHAI. Lerche is among the artists featured on our Covers of Covers album, which came out last Friday via American Laundromat. He covers Mitski’s “Townie.” Check out both “Summer In Reverse” and the Mitski cover below.

“Summer In Reverse” gets locked in a cool groove and doesn’t let up, with Lerche’s pleasing croon blending effortlessly with vocals from CHAI. Marius Hauge directed and shot the video, which features choreography by Kari Hoaas and editing by Jon Danovic. Dancer Ida Haugen co-stars with Lerche. “Summer In Reverse” is the album’s final pre-release single.

Lerche had this to say about “Summer In Reverse” in a press release: “This song was written January 1, 2021, so it’s a bit of a hangover song really. A hangover jam about trying to unhook and ready yourself for a new year through facing some brutal truths. I wanted someone else to sing the pre-choruses, kind of like a soft Greek chorus and I had just heard and loved ‘Donuts Mind If I Do’ by CHAI, so I reached out. I’ve been immensely inspired by Japanese city pop and ambient New Age, and I love how the two go hand in hand somehow. I was thrilled to have some company on the song, so it didn’t feel so pathetic and sad!”

Back in October, Lerche shared the 10-minute album track “Dead of the Night,” which was one of our Songs of the Week. He later shared “Turns Out I’m Sentimental After All” alongside “Cut” upon the album’s announcement. “Cut” was also one of our Songs of the Week. Then Lerche shared the album’s title track, “Avatars of Love,” via an animated video. “Avatars of Love” was also one of our Songs of the Week.

Avatars of Love also features AURORA, Felicia Douglass (Dirty Projectors), Mary Lattimore, Rodrigo Alarcon, and Ana Müller.

His most recent album, Patience, came out in 2020 via PLZ.

Lerche had this to say about his Mitski cover in a statement to Under the Radar: “I always get a kick out of picking apart a song I like, learning it and maybe recording a version. It’s rarely a waste of time, from a songwriter-perspective. You always learn something new. So I was happy to contribute to this cool Covers of Covers idea, plus I dig UTR, and it’s also the 20th anniversary of my career! I first heard ‘Townie’ at a gym in Williamsburg. I love running, but I hate going to the gym. So whenever they’d be playing a song I liked, that would go a long way. It didn’t happen often, but when I heard this I had to find out what it was. It was Mitski, who I hadn’t heard of at the time. This album was pretty new, and I just thought the world of this song, ‘Townie,’ especially. The melody is tremendous, it just cut through my bones at that gym. The gym is not my habitat, I feel alien there, like the teenage-narrator of the song. I have since stopped going, now I just run. When I was a teen I really just wanted to grow up and be an adult, I didn’t appreciate being a teenager at all. I like it much more now, so I can somehow relate more to the song now, I feel. It depicts such classic scenes that evoke a nostalgic darkness. I felt ready to go there, finally. So I spent a day with my bass player and the producer of this track, Chris Holm, and we just enjoyed the words and music to this song, over and over. It’s so pretty, and I just wanted to really PLAY and SING it without much of an agenda. It’s a great song, let it play!”

CHAI’s most recent album, WINK, came out last year via Sub Pop, and was featured on our Top 100 Albums of 2021 list. Read our 2021 interview with CHAI about WINK.

Sondre Lerche Tour Dates:

4/09/22 – Berlin, DE – Badehaus
4/10/22 – Amsterdam, NL – Tuinzaal
4/13/22 – Dublin, IE – Pepper Cannister Church
4/15/22 – Manchester, UK – Gullivers
4/16/22 – London, UK – The Grace
4/17/22 – Paris, FR – 1999
4/18/22 – Zurich, CH – Photobastei
4/19/22 – Milano, IT – Biko
4/29/22 - Vancouver, BC - Fox Cabaret
4/30/22 - Seattle, WA - Crocodile *
5/01/22 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir *
5/03/22 - San Francisco, CA - The Chapel *
5/05/22 - Los Angeles, A - Masonic Lodge *
5/06/22 - San Diego, CA - Soda Bar *
5/07/22 - Palm Springs, CA - The Alibi *
5/08/22 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar *
5/10/22 - Santa Fe, NM - Meow Wolf *
5/11/22 - Fort Collins, CO - Aggie Theatre *
5/12/22 - Denver, CO - Swallow Hill *
5/14/22 - Minneapolis, MN - The Parkway *
5/15/22 - Chicago, IL - City Winery *
5/17/22 - Ann Arbor, MI - The Ark *
5/19/22 - Millersville, PA - Phantom Power *
5/20/22 - Boston, MA - City Winery *
5/21/22 - New York, NY - LPR *
5/22/22 - Pawling, NY - Daryl’s House
5/24/22 - Philadelphia, PA - City Winery *
5/25/22 - Washington, DC - City Winery *
5/27/22 – Atlanta, GA – City Winery *
5/28/22 – Louisville, NY – Zanzabar *
5/29/22 – Nashville, TN – City Winery *
6/15/22 – Bergen, NO – Bergenfest
8/15/22 – Oslo, NO – Øya festival

* w/ mmeadows

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