The best word to describe this album is “nice”. It is like a nonthreatening friend you like to bring places because you know no one will be offended by what he has to say, and that he will make a positive impression overall. With that in mind, Sondre Lerche is an experienced singer/songwriter who writes thoughtful lyrics and has pleasantly catchy tunes. I would definitely listen to this album while doing my homework. You can’t really go wrong with any of these songs, but none of them are particularly exciting either. FCC clean.

Try: 10, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7

1. *(4:20) Slow and pretty, Lerche’s falsetto could be easily interpreted as nice or annoying depending on the listener. The bare sounds gets incrementally bigger around 2:30 as the song seems to swell up with pride. There are some quiet but frantic strings playing in the background.
2. *(3:44) Upbeat and youthful, this is a fun track overall. It’s nothing novel, but it will still get stuck in your head. This is the obvious single from the album.
3. (4:34) Mid tempo and pleasant, it sounds like a song that could very easily be in many soundtracks. The song slows down for a bridge as Lerche makes a plan to win back his love, whom he emphasis that he “saw on the roof tonight.”
4. *(3:36) Mid to quick tempo with a driving base line, the song speeds up at the chorus as the sound grows with a more prominent drum and electric guitar presence. The song surprises you at the end as it seems to skip and becomes quite choppy for a few seconds. Don’t worry, the CD player is fine.
5. *(3:12) With a prominent string part this song reminds me a bit of Andrew Bird combined with a happier Elliot Smith. Pretty, and with what I’m guessing is an unintentional reference to Inception as he mentions a “dream inside a dream.”
6. (4:32) Pleasant and clever(ish), this reminds me a tiny bit of The Decemberists, maybe because he sounds somewhat like Colin Meloy, with the exception of his falsettos. The song gets a bit swirly and cloudy at the end as the background blends together.
7. *(3:30) Mid tempo, this song has a nice full sound without being overwhelming. Shakes things up a bit with a distorted guitar part at the end—maybe he’s trying to show the collapse (like dominos).
8. (3:57) Harmonica solo! It’s hard to imagine him actually living dangerously, but hey, the boy can dream. This is an unofficial anthem for college students everywhere who make ambitions plans to drop out of college and go adventuring with their partner, but never actually go through with it.
9. (5:21) Slow and simple, his voice seems to have a slight delay effect with makes it sound more layered. The guitar builds and drops around 4 minutes and an accordion even makes an appearance, which caught me off guard. The song doesn’t deviate much from its original organization, but has a nice, climactic finale.
10. **(3:58) This song is instantly helped by a chorus/background singers which bring a nice change to just hearing Lerche by himself. You might find yourself singing along or tapping your foot on accident by the end. There is even a fun dance break where the guitar intersects with the chorus.