The Norwegian songwriter Sondre Lerche emerged a decade ago as a precocious and angelic-faced teenager with Faces Down, a debut of simple yet sophisticated songs composed of Lerches guitar and sweet falsetto. In subsequent years, Lerches branched out extensively, dabbling with everything from jazz (Duper Sessions) to distorted rock (Phantom Punch) to orchestral pop (Heartbeat Radio). But his new, appropriately eponymous album seems to ease up on the rambling experimentation, instead returning to where he startedclear, guileless guitar pop. Its a good niche for Lerche. Songs like Ricochet and the ultra-catchy single Private Caller exhibit Lerches greatest musical strengths, namely his warm, open, and charismatic delivery and his penchant for punchy melodies. With Nightlands, Kishi Bashi. ERIN K. THOMPSON
Sat., June 25, 8 p.m., 2011
