Sondre Lerche Announces New Album Acrobats, Shares "Little Kids" Video

Sondre Lerche has announced a new album, Acrobats, and shared its lead single, “Little Kids.” The Norwegian singer-songwriter will release the record on 8/21 via PLZ/Virgin.

Acrobats follows Lerche’s 2022 album Avatars Of Love. It also comes after last year’s surprise EP Turning Up The Heat Again, which arrived not long after his cover of Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With A Smile” for Stereogum’s annual Christmas tradition. That EP marked his first new songs in five years.

The new album runs eight tracks, but Lerche recorded it across nine studios. It also brings in a mix of regular collaborators and Norwegian jazz musicians. None of the songs from Turning Up The Heat Again appear on the album.

“Little Kids” is built around string arrangements by The High Llamas’ Sean O’Hagan, performed by the Stockholm Studio Orchestra. The video was directed by Norwegian auteur Lea Meyer.

From the first verse’s innocent rejection to the third verse’s plunge into premature adulthood, “Little Kids” is about trying to avoid looking back in anger and instead look back with newfound empathy and perspective on adolescent attempts at stumbling towards love, friendship, and intimacy. It’s about forgiving who you were and who you were with and that feeling we get when we see photos of ourselves and realize we were so much younger than we thought at the time. It’s personal but highly universal.

For the first time in my career, I felt compelled to make a video that actually visualized elements of the lyrics. It’s not an adaptation, but something about the nature of these words made me not want to counter or contrast them this time but rather follow them and elevate them. I had been lucky enough to meet Lea Meyer at a thing a while back, and I just had an instinct that she’d get the song and that she’d be right for this. Drawing on some visual and thematic inspiration from the 1970 film A Swedish Love Story, we are introduced to three different couples, different ages and challenges. The results are a testament to Lea’s talent and unique touch. Her and her team were such a brilliant, beautiful group of young professionals who worked incredibly well and dedicated together. Obviously, the song is very meaningful to me, but I am also so proud of this video.

Lerche is also set to tour North America later this year, with dates running through September and into a wider international leg in October, November, and December. The North American run includes stops in Boston, Washington, DC, New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Ojai, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle.

Below, check out the “Little Kids” video, the Acrobats tracklist, and his tour dates.

TRACKLIST:

01 “How Much Of This Was Planned”
02 “Little Kids”
03 “Drive Me Away From You”
04 “Love Is All”
05 “Follow The River”
06 “Acrobats”
07 “In The Time Before I Knew Her Well”
08 “Life-Changing Love”

TOUR DATES:
9/10 – Boston, MA @ Arts at The Armory
9/12 – Washington, DC @ Miracle Theatre
9/13 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
9/15 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
9/16 – Minneapolis, MN @ The Cedar
9/19 – Los Angeles, CA @ Sid The Cat Auditorium
9/20 – Ojai, CA @ Ojai Women’s Club
9/21 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
9/24 – Portland, OR @ Mission Theater
9/25 – Seattle, WA @ Triple Door
10/15 – Oslo, Norway @ Parkteatret Scene
10/16 – Oslo, Norway @ Parkteatret Scene
10/17 – Oslo, Norway @ Parkteatret Scene
10/22 – Oslo, Norway @ Parkteatret Scene
10/23 – Oslo, Norway @ Parkteatret Scene
10/24 – Oslo, Norway @ Parkteatret Scene
11/12 – Lisbon, Portugal @ Auditório da Reitoria da UNL
11/13 – Aveiro, Portugal @ Teatro Aveirense
11/14 – Arcos de Valdevez, Portugal @ Casa das Artes
11/20 – Vienna, Austria @ Blue Bird Festival
11/21 – Torino, Italy @ Spazio211
11/22 – Bologna, Italy @ Baumhaus
11/23 – Milano, Italy @ Arci Bellezza
11/27 – London, UK @ Lower Third
11/29 – Utrecht, Netherlands @ Vredenburg
11/30 – Breda, Netherlands @ Mezz
12/02 – Groningen, Netherlands @ Simplon