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 kings of convenience session
 to access audio and video on collective you need real player.It’s not really that convenient for Norway’s acoustic duo. Kings of convenience isn’t a very apt way to describe Eirik Glambek Boe and Erlend Øye’s working relationship. For the past couple of years the pair have led totally separate lives: Erlend, now based in Berlin, has been travelling the world DJ-ing and producing his electronic solo album, Unrest, while Eirik has remained in their Norwegian home town of Bergen, studying for a psychology diploma. However, they’ve still found time to produce their second album of acoustic delights, Riot On An Empty Street.Separation is nothing new, though. “It’s been like this for us for a long time now,” says Eirik. “I moved to London in 1997 and lived there for a year while Erlend was living in Norway. And then, when I moved back, he moved to England and lived in London and Manchester for two and a half years, and then he moved to Berlin. So, basically, we’ve been living in different countries and different cities for a long time. So in that sense it hasn’t changed very much.”  Musically too, things haven’t veered far from the simple aesthetic of their debut: gentle weaving harmonies and finger-picked guitars. But this time around there are other sounds and people in the mix. “When we recorded Quiet Is The New Loud we had this strong idea of being entirely acoustic and trying to stick to a very minimalist format,” explains Eirik. “This time we’ve been a little more free in our approach, letting ourselves investigate how each song could develop.” The album also features the lovely vocals of Canadian songstress, Feist. “Her demo was my favourite record of the last five years,” says Eirik. The new approach is of course influenced by Erlend’s work with electronica producers, but he’s keen to maintain a clear distinction between Kings Of Convenience and his solo work. “When I was doing my solo album, I knew I was pressing ‘pause’ on Kings Of Convenience, and I was very afraid to do a solo project that would undermine and take away from the magic. If I was going to do an album that sounded like this album then what would we do then?” he asks. “I use music as an ‘either/or’. There is music that I dance to, or there’s music that I listen to. If I listen to music at home I prefer to listen to acoustic music.”  So what’s next for the geographically distanced duo? “I’d like to do another Kings Of Convenience album in not so long,” says Eirik. Erlend, though, wants to wipe the slate clean first by putting out a collection of B-sides and unreleased material: “I’m very keen to come to a point where we have blank sheets and crayons. And then we can walk around the bland sheet a little bit. Because with this record there wasn’t so much freedom involved - it had a lot of obligation,” he explains. Eirik agrees, “It would be great to go into a studio and not have all these finished songs we want to record.” Let’s hope they can spend enough time together to do that. It would be a shame if they didn’t.
Matt Walton
Kings Of Convenience – Riot On An Empty Street, released 21 June 04 on Source Records.
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