The evening began with the lovely and talented Charlotte Martin. The LA based singer/songwriter conjured up memories of Tori Amos, and at times I detected a little Sarah McLachlan and PJ Harvey peeking through. Armed only with her voice and keyboard, her
rich sound drew people into the room to watch, mesmerized. At one point, she professed her fondness for Seattle, claiming she wants to move here. But to make sure we didn't think this was just a gimmick, she followed that up with, "I don't say that in every city. I love it here, even when it's dreary because I'm dreary too." Her pop sound belied her sometimes dark, emotional lyrics. The two songs that stuck with me were "In Parentheses" and "I'm Normal, Please Date Me". The lyrics of the latter gave me a chuckle for reasons I can't explain here without getting myself in trouble. "In Parentheses" contained powerful lyrics like, "And I'm on solitary sand/and I've had bullshit from a man/but found exactly who I am". I've always had a lot of respect for performers who are alone onstage with only their voice and their instrument. Without a band to hide behind they are at their most vulnerable, but also their most powerful.
But the man of the hour was yet to come. After keeping us waiting for what seemed an eternity, but was actually only 30 minutes, Sondre burst onto the stage with the energy and excitement of a 21 year old. I was excited to see him perform with his band, because up until tonight he had only played in Seattle alone. The first time I saw him was in the winter of 2003 and immediately became
my favorite show of that year. He began by playing some songs alone with just him and his guitar. While I know he has been performing for many years in his native Norway, it still astounds me that that much talent can come out of a person that young. He was soon joined onstage by his band, the Faces Down. At first I was afraid his band would take away from his performance. Sondre is so good alone, could the band really make him sound better? Well, my fears were quickly allayed. With the addition of the band, Sondre's songs were given a depth and richness that just built on top of the beauty of his voice and guitar skills. While watching Sondre perform, you quickly forget about his age but then something happens that makes you laugh because you remember how young he really is. While introducing a song, Sondre told the audience that he wrote it to comfort a lady friend of his. He then proceeded to say, "I hope this comforts you the way I did her." It quickly got a chuckle out of his band as well as the audience. A couple of times during the song, Sondre couldn't help but crack a smile at what just happened.
My goosebump portion of the evening occurred during the encore when Sondre performed "Modern Nature". This song was recorded as a duet on his 2002 release Faces Down with Lillian Samdal, who was not there. So he asked the crowd to sing her parts and they were eager to oblige. Hearing everyone sing Lillian's part literally gave me goosebumps and obviously moved Sondre as well. Near the end of the song he just played his guitar and listened to the audience finish it for him. Afterwards he remarked, "I won't comment on your dancing, but your singing was beautiful!" As his set ended he proclaimed that he would be signing "...stuff. I would never say that other word." The line at the merch booth afterwards went at least 50 deep, showing how popular Sondre is and how moving his performance was.
This was his third show in Seattle in the last year and a half. As far as I'm concerned, he can come to Seattle every week and I would be there for every one of his shows.
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