Hailing from Bergen, Kings of Convenience were the duo of Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe.
They released the album Quiet is the New Loud, in March 2001. In the UK it charted at 74, whereas was a number 1 on their native Norway. It garnered quit a bit of a critical praise on the UK. I seem to remember the being lumped in with Royksopp in many Nordic cool style features in the music press.
At the time, the album was a stark counter-point to the nu-metal sound that was fashionable at the time. Quiet is the New Loud being an incredibly apt title.
The album itself opens with a gentle rolling strum of guitar, twinkling like the ripples on a lake. A gentle melodic duel vocal taking over for the tale of ending romance on ‘Winning the battle, losing the war’. Which leads straight into Toxic Girl, one of their most well known tracks, a tale of falling for a girl who only wants you around when it suits them.
The album doesn’t veer to much from its Nick Drake-esque gentle strum, dual vocal, lush soundscape formula. Aside from the odd jazzy interjection from the brass on ‘Singing Softly To Me’ but why would you when it works so well.
Overall this record was a triumph tunesmithery, minimalism and great to enjoy on a long walk or a lazy afternoon. The blueprint underpinning a lot of the music this blog will cover.
I personally regret not getting the chance to see KOC live at the time.
9/10
North Sounds 