Daily Trojan USC.edu

Issue date: 9/20/07 Section: Lifestyle

Media Credit: Photo courtesy of Sondre Lerche Sondre in real life | Musician Sondre Lerche enters the mainstream with his soundtrack for the new Steve Carell film "Dan in Real Life."

Sondre Lerche just might be the hardest working musician in the industry right now. And you probably have no clue who he is.

That's OK. After releasing four critically acclaimed studio albums (his last two within a year) and touring all over the world, this 25-year-old doesn't plan on leaving the game anytime soon. In fact, he's probably one of the best-kept secrets on the indie scene.

His debut album, "Faces Down," was listed on Rolling Stone's "10 Best Debut Albums" and "50 Best Albums of 2002." Since then, Lerche's fans have enjoyed nonstop touring and continual record releases.

But his next album just might reach more mainstream ears.

The Norwegian singer-songwriter has reached a new level of creativity by coproducing and writing the original soundtrack for the upcoming film "Dan in Real Life" starring Steve Carell ("The Office") and Juliette Binoche ("Chocolat"), set to be released in October.

While the film was in pre-production, director and cowriter Peter Hedges ("Pieces of April") listened to 500 different artists while considering potential singers for the movie's soundtrack. In the end, he says he kept coming back to Lerche because his music is so "timeless" and "full of depth."

Meanwhile, Lerche had never even imagined getting the opportunity to score a Hollywood film.

"It's been such a surprise, this whole project for me," Lerche said. "I've never been involved in writing music for film, and now I've scored this whole big film. It's really cool."

And while most musicians would be daunted by the task of producing an entire soundtrack for the first time, Lerche was set at ease by Hedges' generous welcome. Instead of separating the production of the music and film, the director made the singer a part of the filmmaking process. He invited Lerche to sit in on cast auditions, work one-on-one with a couple of the actors on musical numbers and even had Lerche spend the night at the house where the film was shot.

"All these things really helped me connect with the film and my writing process," Lerche said. "I just started collecting songs immediately … It was tremendously inspiring to me not only as a musician, but to get to sit down and play a song with Juliette Binoche and meet Steve Carell was pretty cool."

With a personal window into the characters' hearts, Lerche produced 13 exclusive tracks for the film, including 11 written and composed by the singer himself. With a couple of goodies from previous Lerche records mixed into the set, one can instantly connect with the acoustic, handmade sound that represents the characters of "Dan in Real Life."

But those who have yet to jump on the Sondre Lerche bandwagon must listen to the musician's previous records before trying to label the eclectic star. All his albums have their own distinct theme and style, separating him from the current trend of the generic acoustic male singer.

Anyone who can go from a jazz album ("Duper Sessions") to a pop/punk album ("Phantom Punch") and then record a raw, acoustic soundtrack deserves to be in a class of his own.

"It sort of just happens," Lerche said. "You have certain things you want to try out and certain directions you want to go in, but it all happens gradually."

One can never know what Lerche will cook up next, but listeners can certainly expect an infectiously entertaining experiment from a one-of-a-kind artist.

"[Over the years], I've learned that I have to stay true to my own curiosity and my own need for new music," he said.

And the man is keeping his word - he already has another album in the works, which he plans to jump into immediately after promoting this soundtrack.

"It could go in all kinds of directions," Lerche said. "But I must say, after doing two albums that were very much about just a bunch of musicians coming together … I definitely want to go into experimenting more in the studio because that's what I haven't done lately. So I'd like to spend a lot of time recording this album and seeing what we can come up with."



- Sondre Lerche is playing at Greek Theatre tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. For more information, visit

www.greektheatrela.com.

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