Norwegian singer/songwriter Sondre Lerche has unveiled a soothing new single from his forthcoming ninth full-length album Patience, and it’s premiering exclusively via Paste below.
This is the third single from the album so far, which arrives on June 5 via PLZ. The bittersweetness is musically palpable; the track is bouncy and full of colorful synths, but everything is covered in a nostalgic haze. It’s a song you can both dance to and cry to, and it seems like most of Patience will have this duality.
Lerche says of the song:
I rarely write songs in the studio, but “That’s All There Is” was an exception that happened at the very end of recording Patience. I had been toying around with this stiff beat, which I also rarely do, and I had a pretty clear idea of a mood and sentiment I was longing for. So, while my producer Kato Ådland was tweaking another song we’d just recorded, I wrote this melody and we recorded the basic track. We transferred my guitar to midi and it turned into this synth sound that was so inspiring. When I record in Bergen I always stay with my mom, so I sleep in my old room. I remember writing the words in bed in the middle of the night, wrapped up in a myriad of thoughts and feelings.
I had just lost a friend, the director Johannes Greve Muskat, who had died suddenly and accidentally, and I was going through my iPhone looking for any photo I had of him from our times spent together. And that stream of captures briefly brought him back, so vividly, so beautifully. All these moments, some that I had forgotten and wouldn’t recall if it wasn’t for my smart phone. I feel phones get a bad rep nowadays, so this song is sort of a tribute to the fact that we can all walk around with thousands of images of our loved ones at all times. And that those collections of moments represent what gives life meaning: experiences shared. It’s bittersweet, of course, cause it’s about accepting that good times pass, great lives and relationships end. So, I felt pretty rough when I recorded the vocals the next morning. But I wanted to capture the song as instantly and tender as possible, like an emotional snapshot.
Listen to “That’s All There Is,” exclusively via Paste below, and preorder Patience here. Scroll down to watch his 2017 Paste Studio session.
