Private Convenience (Quiet Is The New Loud - Kings Of Convenience)

Member Name: stoffy

Product:	Quiet Is The New Loud - Kings Of Convenience
Date:	24/05/03 (85 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: gorgeous melodies, very easy to listen to

Disadvantages: some may find it a bit too samey

Seeing as it's Eurovision tonight, it seems apt to write about a band from Norway, the country whose dire entry spawned the phrase 'nul points'.

Kings of Convenience consist of the Bergen outcasts Erlend Oye, and Eirik Glambek Boe. The lanky, geekish Oye and the former karate champ Boe came together from different bands to form their group, and after securing a record deal, set about recording 'Quiet Is The New Loud', which was released to critical acclaim in 2001.

As the title may suggest, this album centres around gentle acoustic-guitar driven songs rather than anything more rocky, and this gives the 12-track a slightly folky feel to it. Indeed, the duo have been compared to Simon and Garfunkel on a number of occasions.

There is an overwhelming bareness to the album that epitomises Scandanavian alternative scene, and there is very little production added to the songs which gives an almost busking quality to the songs, and emphasis their thoughtful and emotive lyrics.

There is an overriding theme of unrequited love on the album, from the resignation in 'Winning A Battle, Losing The War', about a relationship break-down to the deceptively upbeat ditty 'Toxic Girl', all about waiting in vain for the opportunity to show the popular girl about a love that lasts longer than one night.

Perhaps the highlight of the album is 'I Don't Know What I Can Save You From', which features some gorgeous instrumentation, and Oye's typically deadpan delivery of a tale about a former love rearing their head. Another undoubted zenith is 'Failure', which follows on in typically understated style, and also gives the handy advice that you can use a Guardian newspaper to keep your legs from getting wet on rainy days...

It is quite hard to separate the tracks and define their qualities, as the mood and tempo of the songs barely changes. However, whilst it's fair to say t
hat it is a little one-paced with Oye's melancholic lead vocals and gentle guitar riffs being omnipresent on every track, it's the beautiful melodies and thoughtful idiosynchratic lyrics that lifts the album into something special.

Interestingly, the whole album was remixed by a host of different acts from Alfie to Ladytron, and was released under the title 'Versus'. Arguably this compilation is even better than 'Quiet Is The New Loud', as there is a little bit more variety on offer. Royksopp for example, add some gentle beats to 'I Don't Know...' which lifts an excellent song into another dimension, so much so that it was the soundtrack to a pivotal scene between Nate and Brenda on 'Six Feet Under'.

Oye returned the favour to remixers Royksopp and sang vocals on several tracks on the best-selling 'Melody AM', such as 'Poor Leno' and 'Remind Me', which sold hundreds of thousands of copies across Europe. This year, he has taken a temporary break from the band to release a solo album 'Unrest', which is more dance and electronically influenced that the KoC debut. However, Oye does plan to team up once more with Boe later in the year.

Despite the arguable merits of 'Versus' over the original versions, 'Quiet Is The New Loud' is definitely worth investigating for fans of gentle acoustic songs, who prefer to play whole albums rather than skip them track by track.

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