Kings of Convenience are an indie folk-pop duo from Bergen, Norway. Consisting of Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe, the musical group is known for their delicate tunes, calming voices, and intricately subtle guitar melodies. Both Øye and Bøe sing in their tracks, and both of them compose.
History
Erlend and Eirik were both born in 1975 (Erlend on November 21 and Eirik on October 25), and have known each other since the age of 10. At sixteen, they played together in the band Skog ("forest") with two other friends, releasing one EP
Tom Tids Tale, before breaking up and later forming the Kings duo.
The twosome were signed to the American label Kindercore after appearing in European festivals during the summer of 1999. After a spell living in London in 2001, they released their debut album
Quiet Is the New Loud. The album was produced by Coldplay producer Ken Nelson. The album was very successful and even lent its name to a small movement of musicians in the pop underground (including acoustic contemporaries such as Turin Brakes) which took Belle & Sebastian and Simon and Garfunkel as their inspiration and focused on more subtle melodies and messages.
Versus, an album of remixes of tracks from
Quiet Is the New Loud, came out shortly after. After this breakthrough year, not much was heard from the band. Øye spent the next few years living in Berlin and doing solo material, releasing music under the
DJ Kicks series as well as a solo album titled
Unrest. He also has a side project named The Whitest Boy Alive
It was not until 2004 that the Kings' follow-up
Riot on an Empty Street was released. The video made for
I'd Rather Dance With You, the second single from
Riot on an Empty Street, topped MTV's European list as the best music video of 2004. The album also featured contributions by Leslie Feist.
It's been a quiet period for the band (no pun intended), leading to speculation they had stopped working together. But on their official website, the duo recently announced they were to play a one-off concert in Mexico City on March 6th and March 7th, 2007. The first concert had to be canceled because Erlend had a problem with "Montezuma's Revenge" and wasn't feeling OK. They played two concerts on March 7 and announced they were going to start work on their new album in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Discography
Albums
- Riot on an Empty Street (CD) - Astralwerks - (2004)
- Versus (CD) - Astralwerks - (2001)
- Quiet Is the New Loud (CD) - Astralwerks - (2001)
- Kings of Convenience (CD) - Kindercore - (2000)
Singles
- "Know-How" (2005)
- "I'd Rather Dance with You" (2004)
- "Misread" (2004)
- "Winning a Battle, Losing the War" (2001)
- "Toxic Girl" (2001)
- "Failure" (2001)
- "Toxic Girl" (1999)
- "Failure" (1999)
- "Brave New World" (1999)
Collaborations
- Cornelius - "Drop (The Tusen Takk Rework)" (2002)
- Feist - "Know-How" and "The Build Up" (Riot on an Empty Street) and in "Cayman Islands" from the "Know-How" single (2004)
- Cornelius - Omstart (2006)
Audio/Video
External links
Norwegian indie rock groups
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