Sondre Lerche - Duper Sessions

“Duper Sessions” is a freewheeling collection of jaunty love songs and melancholy musings that may be best complemented by sipping wine by a glowing fireplace on a rainy day. This very quality makes it a perfect mood-setter, but may keep it from heavy rotation in your everyday listening. In the “Sessions,” Sondre Lerche takes a jazzy detour from his last two albums, and creates an identity for his backing musicians, the “faces down quartet.” It should be noted that the detour isn’t a large one; rather, Lerche explores a tangent existent in his previous work and pays homage to some of his influences, trumpeter and singer Chet Baker being one. Most of the songs are originals imbibing the spirit of jazz greats, but there is a smattering of covers including Cole Porter and Elvis Costello. The album is hit and miss- ‘Minor Detail’ is a beautiful, wistful crooner, ‘Night and Day’ is a somewhat pedestrian take on the Cole Porter classic- but it deserves a permanent spot in your music collection. “Duper Sessions” has something of an iconic quality, whether borrowed or earned, and illustrates how good things can happen when artists break from the mold (even if slightly) and have a bit of fun. [www.sondrelerche.com]