Sondre Lerche Releases New Double Album 'Avatars of Love'

Today, Sondre Lerche released Avatars of Love, his most ambitious work to date, via PLZ / InGrooves. The 14 song double album features contributions from AURORA, CHAI, Felicia Douglass (Dirty Projectors), Mary Lattimore, Rodrigo Alarcon, and Ana Müller.

Also released today is the official video for the album's closing single "Alone In The Night" (feat. AURORA)." On April 30, Lerche will embark on his first US tour in more than 5 years. The tour will make stops in Seattle Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and more. Find a full list of tour dates below or at sondrelerche.com. Avatars of Love is now available for purchase on special edition double vinyl and double CD with a 20 page booklet.

Lerche explains: "'Alone In The Night' was the first recording I did for the Avatars of Love album. It put everything in motion, and surprised me greatly. I heard AURORA's voice singing it in my mind one day when I was out running in the sun. So I asked her if she'd sing it with me. It felt extra special, because I had just returned home to Bergen after 15 years of living in the US. And she was one of the first to greet me there. It's a song about what happens to our bodies and souls when we fall in love, and then again through the passage of time, when we age and die. It's ultimately about our memories and dementia. How frail we really are, and how heartless the process of aging can be to lovers."

This morning, the album was highlighted as one of the best albums of the week on NPR's New Music Friday podcast, with NPR Music's Cyrena Touros calling it, "A journey start to finish... I feel like I could spend six months just listening to this one album and I could find so much to mine and explore." In their four star review, American Songwriter said, ​​"An impressive accomplishment, Avatars of Love probes the depths of desire to extraordinary effect." Recently, Lerche released the official video for the album's 10+ minute long centerpiece "Avatars of Love," which was praised by FLOOD Magazine and Stereogum, and was named one of the best songs of the week by BrooklynVegan and Under The Radar.

"This is without a doubt the biggest, boldest, most complex thing I've ever done," explains Lerche about the new album. "At the same time, it was also the easiest, most natural, and most liberating. As an artist, it's the kind of project you always dream about."

From March 31 through April 24, Lerche and Norwegian artist Nikolai Torgersen, who drew all of the visuals for Avatars of Love, will present an art exhibit at Kulturhuset i Bergen. The exhibit will feature 40+ pieces of artwork tied to the album that will be auctioned off, with proceeds being donated to families who struggle with poverty and children who are the victims of substance abuse, charities near and dear to Nikolai, as well as to victims of the war in Ukraine.

Listen to the new album here:

Watch the new music video here:

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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