''Peace or Love'' is the fourth studio album by

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming *Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies *Indie game, any game (board ...

folk-pop Folk-pop is a musical style that may be 1) contemporary folk songs with large, sweeping pop arrangements, or 2) pop songs with intimate, acoustic-based folk arrangements. Recording production values created a unblemished style that appealed to ...

duo

Kings of Convenience Kings of Convenience is an indie folk-pop duo from Bergen, Norway, consisting of Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe. History Øye and Bøe were both born in 1975 (Øye on 21 November and Bøe on 25 October) and have known each other since they ...

. Released on 18 June 2021, it is their first album in 12 years. It features two song collaborations with

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

musician Feist. It was preceded by two singles: "Rocky Trail" and "Fever".

Background and release

released their third studio album ''

Declaration of Dependence ''Declaration of Dependence'' is the third album from Norway, Norwegian duo Kings of Convenience, their first album in five years. It was released on 5 October 2009. "Mrs Cold" and "Boat Behind" have been released as radio singles in some countrie ...

'' in 2009 which reached number four on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart and was met with generally favourable reviews. In April 2021, the duo, which consists of

Erlend Øye Erlend Øye (born 21 November 1975) is a Norwegian composer, musician, producer, singer and songwriter from Bergen, best known for being one half of the indie folk duo Kings of Convenience, along with Eirik Glambek Bøe. Among other musical pro ...

and

Eirik Glambek Bøe Eirik Glambek Bøe (born 25 October 1975) is a Norwegian musician, writer and vocalist, best known for being part of the indie folk duo Kings of Convenience together with Erlend Øye. He has a degree in psychology from the University of Bergen. ...

, announced the release of their fourth studio album titled ''Peace or Love''. "Rocky Trail" was released as the

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

on 30 April 2021, alongside the album's announcement. "Fever" was served as the second single on 28 May. The album was released on 18 June by

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...

. Their first album in 12 years, ''Peace or Love'' was recorded by the duo five times.

Music

The melody and arrangement of "Catholic Country" was "jammed out" with

The Staves The Staves are an English indie folk trio of sisters Emily, Jessica and Camilla Staveley-Taylor from Watford, Hertfordshire, England. Career The Staves began performing together at open-mic nights in Watford hosted by a local pub, The Horns. ...

at the first PEOPLE Festival.

Critical reception

''Peace or Love'' received positive reviews from music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 76 based on 10 reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews". At

AnyDecentMusic? AnyDecentMusic? is a website that collates album reviews from magazines, websites, and newspapers. Primarily focused on popular music – covering rock, pop, electronic, dance, folk, country, roots, hip-hop, R&B, and rap – albums are adjudg ...

, which collates album reviews from websites, magazines and newspapers, they gave the release a 7 out of 10, based on a critical consensus of 13 reviews. In a 9/10 review, Tom Pinnock of ''

Uncut Uncut may refer to: * ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship * ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997 * '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...

'' called it their most cohesive album to date, writing that the band "seem to have discovered the purest essence of the music they create." Reviewing for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', Ben Beaumont-Thomas praised the duo's vocal chemistry as well as the album's acoustic arrangement and emotional narrative, calling it "a beautifully simple return". Similarly, Eric Mason from ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...

'' commended the record for retaining the duo's "distinctly tranquil guitar-centric sound" and favoured the presence of

bossa nova Bossa nova () is a style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a "different beat" that altered the harmonies with the introduction of unconventional chords and an innovativ ...

. ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' writer Linnie Greene described the album as "an especially airbrushed take on easy-listening pop".

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

and

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

Musicians

– vocals , nylon-string acoustic guitar , piano , drums *

– vocals , steel-string acoustic guitar * Feist – vocals * Davide Bertolini – upright bass , viola da gamba * Alexander Grieg – bowed upright bass * Tobias Hett – viola * Alexander von Mehren – bass , marimba , keyboards

Technical

* Kings of Convenience – production , mixing *

– programming , recording * Davide Bertolini – production , mixing , recording , upright bass * Kalle Gustafsson Jerneholm – production , mixing , recording * Cristian Heyne – production , recording * Robert Jønnum – production , mixing , recording * Antonio Pulli – production , mixing , recording * Phil Weinrobe – production , recording * Fernando Herrera Bastidas – mixing , recording *

Jørgen Træen Jørgen Træen also known by his stage name Sir Dupermann (born 15 April 1973) is a Norwegians, Norwegian record producer, musician (guitar, keyboards and bass guitar) and electronica artist from Bergen. He is best known for his work as a music p ...

– mastering * Norman Nitzsche – mastering * Sascha Steinfurth – guitar technician

Artwork

* Glauco Canalis – front cover photograph, jacket photograph, label photograph * Salvo Alibrio – gatefold spread photograph, tiny blurry photograph * Andrea Moschella – graphic design