Music from Norway most immediately for me conjures notions of Black Metal and Scandinavian pop à la ABBA (not Norwegian, but I don’t believe my grouping of Scandinavia is anomalous). Though I would not exactly define Sondre Lerche as a happy medium, seeing as how the combination of ABBA and Mayhem would not produce Lerche, he does elude the stereotypical Norwegian musical associations.

A clean and unaffected voice, he amalgamates a quirky combination of influences to produce light and endearing pop-y songs. The sound on “To Be Surprised,” off Dan In Real Life (Original Soundtrack) has country undertones, and “My Hands are Shaking” references folk and blues. His cover of Pete Townshend’s “Let My Love Open the Door” is sweet and well orchestrated — his use of strings is not overbearing or cloying, but adds to and compliments his already nectarous voice.

His instrumentation is consistently strong — he does not fall victim to the common mistake of over indulgence of orchestral walls of sounds. His product is reliably light, nice, sometimes quirky pop-songs.

While he released in 2007 an album with Faces Down, Phantom Punch, influenced by period of touring with legendary Elvis Costello, Sondre Lerche will be in Ithaca solo this Saturday at Castaways. The singer will be sure to deliver a set of good old-fashioned songs sung in the tradition of understated, pre-screamed and over-stylized vocalists.