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100

Urb

Lerche has a pop manual the size of the OED, and he's not the least bit bashful about using it. [Apr 2004, p.86]

PopMatters

The world of Two Way Monologue may find more by way of endings and duties, but even these can't dampen Lerche's contagious musical sensibilities, exhilarating vigor and downright stupefying songcraft.

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Entertainment Weekly

A breezy, unexpectedly enchanting CD. [12 Mar 2004, p.112]

Filter

Lacks the robust, full-bodied sound of its predecessor and instead exercises a studied, stripped-down clinic on how to brood and remain upbeat. [#9, p.102]

Planet

The sophomore-slump-beating Two Way Monologue showcases Lerche's expanding sensibility for songwriting, even if it sacrifices some of the passion of his debut. [#6, p.86]

Alternative Press

His arrangements are floral and handcrafted and warm. [May 2004, p.102]

Blender

An unexpected delight. [Apr 2004, p.132]

Uncut

Think swoonsome pop at its most non-cynical but with a left-field twist. [Aug 2004, p.98]

Pitchfork

If the listener isn't eventually caught in swoons, at the least he will respect the degree of Lerche's refined artifice.

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Spin

Lerche gets his Burt Bacharach on, flavoring coffee-shop ballads with minor-key chicory. [Apr 2004, p.94]

Splendid

The first thing that really jumps out at you about Two Way Monologue is that it lacks its predecessor's exuberant, puddle-jumping panache. But when you stop and look at things closely, you realize that the progressions Lerche has made on the songwriting front more than atone for any zeal he's trimmed off the back end.

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Tiny Mix Tapes

Two Way Monologue is an evident progression forward, but not forward enough. It is extremely similar to Faces Down and ultimately leads to disappointment.

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Mojo

The songs are a mite pretentious. [Sep 2004, p.99]

Rolling Stone

His weakness is his words. Lerche clearly puts effort into his poetry, but the results are often vague, and at worst they suggest a nonsensical translation of what might have been eloquent in the singer's native tongue.

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The Guardian

He ends up sounding like a confused Billy Joel.

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Stylus Magazine

Most of the tracks here fit into various categories of coffee table mood music; Lerche has a great knack for melodies, but seemingly not much of an idea what to do with them once he’s got them all lined up.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 9.3 (out of 10) based on 13 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jyotirmaya D gave it a7:
There are few good songs here. I saw him perform most of this album live and it sounded much better live!?

Neal L gave it a10:
This album is extremely wonderful with its unique genre and Sondre's wonderfully calm and soothing voice. I rarly give albums a ten, but this is worth every compliment. Thank you Sondre Lerche

multe 4 gave it a10:
I just love this album a actually it opend my world to music. For that I should have huged him but his a far way from here and u must forguve me for no doing so!

Ryan C gave it a10:
Seriously, check this album out if you don't have it. Sondre is an incredibly talented musician and singer. Favorite album of the year by far!

raVen gave it an8:
Echo echo, Russ P. (below). The songs blur together at the end. They aren't bad songs that are the result of bad songwriting - it's just that they are similar, like he didn't finish what he was saying in the previous song. This leads to zoning out on the freeway and so on. But the music is uniformly pleasing, and the songs that DO stand out as being different (i.e., the first half-or-so of the album) present themselves as being exceptionally good and new and hip. Maybe I'd like the other half better if the whole album had been laid out in reverse, but I don't think so. Front-loaded, but worth the buy. And his name will make friends go "huh?"

Russell P. gave it a9:
I have no idea what's so compelling about Sondre Lerche's music or this album in particular, but I'm hooked. The only reason I didn't give the album a ten is that all of the songs sound eerily similar to one another (excluding Two Way Monologue). Albums do need more uniqueness(is that a word?) and an album that produces too many similar songs is not a ten. This album is still extremely addictive.

Neil L gave it a10:
I can't put my finger on it. I listen to a wide variety of music, my favorite genre notably being "turntablism", and yet this is possibly my favorite album of 2004. It's a masterpeice of hauntingly beautiful songs. If there's anything worth singing about it's Love and Friendship and Sondre Lerche knows it.

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Two Way Monologue

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