Once upon a time there was a fearless Nordic duo, who waged war on the world armed with only two soft voices and two acoustic guitars. Their names were Eirik Glambek Boe and Erlend Oye, and like their Viking ancestors they crossed continents to bring their songs of love, heartache and life to the world beyond. Soon strange tales began to filter out of an odd pair, who’d met at an inter-schools geography contest as children (which Erlend won by drawing a map of the world freehand from memory) that had later reunited in song, in a gloomy rock band that did Joy Division covers called Skog (Norwegian for Tree). Destiny however had other plans, and soon it was goodnight Skog and the Kings Of Convenience were born.
Following a trio of 7” singles on the cult label Telle Records (based in their hometown of Bergen, set at the foot of the fjords on Norway’s west Atlantic coast), the Kings signed with Source Records, released an E.P. recorded live in a room – entitled ‘live in a room’, which captivated many with its heartwarming charm. Then they set about creating a genre defining debut album with producer Ken Nelson (Coldplay, Badly Drawn Boy).
Entitled ‘Quiet Is The New Loud’, and released in early 2001, it was quickly adopted as their motto and they became flag-bearing artists for what the British music press had dubbed the “New Acoustic Movement”, which they transcended and outlasted thanks to their originality, personalities and most importantly of all - talent. They were also the leaders of Norway’s musical revival, which had sat in the doldrums post A-ha for a number of years, opening the door for other Bergen based artists such as Royksopp (whose multi-platinum debut album ‘Melody AM’ featured the voice of Erlend on ‘Poor Leno’ and ‘Remind Me’), Ralph Myerz + Jack Herren Band¸ Magnet and Sondre Lerche
‘Quiet Is The New Loud’ went on to become one of the years most acclaimed debut albums with a string of classic singles like ‘Toxic Girl’ and ‘Failure’. The secret to this was almost certainly their simplicity – After all “simple pleasures”, as Oscar Wilde once said, “are the last refuge of the complex”. Here you had good old-fashioned honest storytelling, wide-eyed lyricism and fearlessness in the face of fashion. Quickly too their live shows became noted and they were soon selling out venues, sports halls, churches and later theatres across Europe.
Like most trendy cocktail party catchphrases – the New Acoustic Movement, was quickly forgotten, probably because it didn’t really exist in the first place. The Kings were simply doing their thing and doing it well, and people loved them for it. They successfully sidestepped any post-NAM backlash by heading to Ibiza, guitars in tow, for a series of intimate shows under the Balearic sunshine. It worked, both on the white isle where once they had known only hippies, tie dye and bangin’ house super clubs- now they rejoiced in the simple but addictive harmonies...and in the broader sphere of dance music, where their blend of harmonic interaction breathed a welcome and fresh vitality into the world of downtempo. This was leftfield at its most leftfield, but with a bossanova pizzazz you could swing your hips to.
Following their newfound patronage from post club revelers, they released a collection of remixes and cover versions by the likes of Fourtet and Ladytron (amongst others) of the ‘Quiet...’ tracks, entitled ‘Versus’, which contained one of the year’s defining dancefloor moments, courtesy of Royksopp, a seamless reworking of ‘I Don’t Know What I Can Save You From.’
The remix album partially set the scene for what would come next. The Kings completed a remix of ‘Drop’ by Cornelius and continued to play shows across Europe, including one rather intimate show in front of some diplomats at a Nobel peace prize reception at the Norwegian ambassadors residence in London, and culminating in a triumphant sell out show at London’s Union chapel.
After a while, touring took its toll on Eirik, and following a brief tour of the USA, the pair drifted back off in their own directions. Eirik – back home to his life in Bergen, and Erlend off on a quest to meet, communicate and entertain the entire world!
Seemingly dissatisfied by his lack of opportunities to tour, and fuelled by the success of his new found forays into the world of dance music, Erlend began to travel from city to city (he eventually settled fulltime in Berlin), recording tracks with local artists, this body of work went on to become the basis for his acclaimed debut solo album ‘Unrest’, released early last year and featuring collaborations with dance producers such as Morgan Geist, Prefuse 73 and Schneider TM to name but three. “I felt frustrated that there was so many places that we couldn’t reach with Kings,” says Erlend, “the solo record came about from my feeling of unrest.”
Erlend toured the record both with a full band, and as a Singing DJ, where he would sing over records, play acoustic guitar and dance. In the clichéd world of the DJ, there was nothing quite like it – He has recently released a DJ Kicks compilation in this style, already dubbed by some as the best in the series’ history. He has contributed vocals to albums by the likes of Jolly Music and recently DJ Hell, helped out at the Redbull music academy in South Africa and is currently working on his new project ‘The Whitest Boy Alive,’ which debuted on the recent Kitsuné ‘Midnight’ album.
But what of Eirik Glambek Boe – man of mystery, the pensive, brooding, dark and mysterious King…Where have you been these past few years? “Back home in Bergen, where I like it best. I’ve been at university, treating my patients as part of my psychology degree, and writing songs in my spare time. For me it was never an option to be a full time musician. I’m happy doing different things, I get very bored doing one thing at a time,” he muses.
“Therapy is a very interesting process. It’s about creativity as much as music, making something new out of all the pieces that are already there. It’s particularly good for finding your own true inner voice. When it comes to music there are two opposites, some songwriters make up words and some people speak with their own inner voice when writing songs, like Bob Marley- a true voice. Ideas come easy, but writing a song is always hard. That’s probably why it took us so long to make an album.”
Aside from his time at university, treating his case studies and writing songs in his spare time Eirik has been swimming and exercising regularly, developing a keen interest in town planning (he already plans post music career to pursue this further- to make Bergen a more environmentally friendly city), and recently spent a month on holiday cycling from Hanoi in North Vietnam to Saigon in the South. As far from an Ibiza super club as one could possibly get in a lifetime.
Their second album ‘Riot On An Empty Street’ picks up where ‘Quiet Is The New Loud’ left off. Recorded over the last six months in Bergen, with periodic visits from ex-patriot Erlend - Riot contains more complex arrangements this time around. The acoustic sound is still very much the leading edge, augmented by banjo (Eirik), self-taught trumpet (Erlend), bass, drums and other instrumentation in carefully selected places. From the familiar harmonics on it’s opener ‘Homesick,’ ‘Gold In The Air Of Summer’ and ‘Surprise Ice’, to the new-pop swing of live favorite ‘I’d Rather Dance With You’, ‘Know How,’ ‘Love Is No Big Truth’ or first single ‘Misread’, every track sounds like an old friend coming home to you.
“It’s quite style schizophrenic,” adds Eirik “We’re each inspired by different things so it can be a little confusing, but that seems to be a modern phenomenon, people don’t know what genre to put themselves in.”
“I’m looking forward to everyone saying it’s not as good as the first album,” laughs Erlend, “It’s funny because two of the songs are from 1998, so it’s us, covering us from five years ago,” he adds.
The Kings were joined in the studio by hotly tipped Canadian songstress Feist, who appears on two of the albums twelve tracks, the bossa-fuelled ‘Know How’ where she assists Eirik, and the album’s closing track ‘The Build Up’- where she duets with Erlend in what is one of the Kings’ most stark and beautifully emotive tracks, a rare moment captured in time. Both were big fans of her much-fabled “Red Demos” and she melds perfectly amidst them, bringing an air of added suspense and emotion and of course her majestic voice. “Her voice is amazing”, gushes Erlend, “I’m very proud of the ‘Build Up’, for the first time ever we managed to do something spontaneous, Feist wrote the words an hour before she sung them, and it doesn’t sound like anything else we’ve ever done.”
So there you have it. Kings Of Convenience – 2004. A therapist and a superstar singing DJ, an odd couple, but still the best (old) new acoustic band in the world. ‘Riot On An Empty Street,’ forms their very own republic of two, principality of Eirik and Erlend. A great place to visit again and again.
