COLIN WILSON 21-year-old Norweigan singer songwriter Sondre Lerch will be showcasing his brand of unashamed, eloquent and celebratory left-field pop music when he plays a solo show to promote his widely acclaimed second album Two Way Monologue at Norwich Arts Centre on Wednesday, March 2.

COLIN WILSON

21-year-old Norweigan singer songwriter Sondre Lerch will be showcasing his brand of unashamed, eloquent and celebratory left-field pop music when he plays a solo show to promote his widely acclaimed second album Two Way Monologue at Norwich Arts Centre on Wednesday, March 2.

Lerche emerged from Bergen in Norway three years ago with his debut album, Faces Down. Ambitious, diverse and packed full of gorgeous melodies tempered with tougher edges, the album was the perfect antidote to the manufactured synthetic pop choking the joy and imagination out of modern music. As impossible to categorise as you would imagine from a list of influences that included Burt Bacharach, Jeff Buckley, Elvis Costello, Steely Dan and Beck, the album was an instant hit at home and critically well-received in Britain and America, where it made Rolling Stone's top 50 albums of 2002.

Now he's fulfilled all the promise of his debut with Two Way Monologue, an album of astonishing maturity and vividly melodic songs, full of fragile acoustics, melancholy, beautiful arrangements and shiny pop.

It's an album of breathtaking diversity and imagination that refreshes popular music as a creative force.

Following the release of the album, Sondre has been personally chosen by Elvis Costello, as support on his 25-date April tour of the USA.

Doors 8pm. Tickets (seated) at £6 in advance, £7 on the door are available from the NAC box office on 01603 660352.