Kings of Convenience is an
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 duo from
Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
, consisting 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 Berge ...
.
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 met in the same class at school. Their first musical collaboration was a comedic rap about a teacher. 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 duo was signed to the American label
Kindercore
Kindercore Vinyl is a vinyl record pressing plant based in Athens, Georgia. It began as an independent record label, founded in 1996 by Ryan Lewis and Daniel Geller to help create a unified music scene of Athens. After the dissolution of the rec ...
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
''Quiet Is the New Loud'' is the debut album by Norwegian indie pop duo Kings of Convenience, released on 29 January 2001 by Astralwerks.
Critical reception
''Quiet Is the New Loud'' received mostly positive reviews from contemporary music cr ...
''. The album was produced by
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University ...
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
Turin Brakes are an English band, comprising original duo of Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian, and long-term collaborators Rob Allum and Eddie Myer. They had a UK top 5 hit in 2003 with their song "Painkiller (Summer Rain)". Since starting ou ...
) which took
Elliott Smith,
Belle & Sebastian and
Simon & Garfunkel as their inspiration and focused on more subtle melodies and messages. Kings of Convenience also inspired an indian music duo
Parekh & Singh
Parekh & Singh are an Indian dream pop duo from the city of Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal. The duo consists of Nischay Parekh (vocals, guitar, synths) and Jivraj Singh (drums, electronics).
History
Background
The two met as tee ...
.
''
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
Unrest, also called disaffection, is a sociological phenomenon, including:
* Civil unrest
* Civil disorder
* Domestic terrorism
* Industrial unrest
* Labor unrest
* Rebellion
* Riot
* Strike action
* State of emergency
Notable historical in ...
''. He also had a side project named
The Whitest Boy Alive
The Whitest Boy Alive is a German-Norwegian musical group based in Berlin. It was originally active from 2003 to 2014; after a five-year hiatus, the group reformed in 2019. The band is composed of singer and guitarist Erlend Øye of Kings of Conv ...
.
![Kings of Convenience in Bangkok](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Kings_of_Convenience_in_Bangkok.jpg)
It was not until 2004 that the Kings' follow-up ''
Riot on an Empty Street
''Riot on an Empty Street'' is the second album from Norwegian duo Kings of Convenience. It features two song collaborations with Canadian musician Feist. It peaked at #2 in Norway, #3 in Italy (staying in the chart for a year) and #49 in the UK. ...
'' was released. The video made for "I'd Rather Dance With You," the second single from the album, topped
MTV's European list as the best music video of 2004. The album also featured contributions by
Feist.
In January 2008 the band played concerts in the Northern Norwegian cities of
Tromsø
Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø.
Tromsø lies in Northern Norway. The municipality is the ...
,
Svolvær
Svolvær () is the administrative centre of Vågan Municipality in Nordland County, Norway. It is located on the island of Austvågøya in the Lofoten archipelago, along the Vestfjorden. The town has a population (2018) of 4,720 which gives t ...
and
Bodø, and Swedish city
Umeå
Umeå ( , , , locally ; South Westrobothnian: ;). fi, Uumaja; sju, Ubmeje; sma, Upmeje; se, Ubmi) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County.
Situated on the Ume River, U ...
along with a concert in August in
Stockholm. The band then toured
North America,
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
and
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
, including stops in Boston, New York, Toronto, Detroit; Latin American stops in
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
,
Colombia,
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
,
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = National seal
, national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
and
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
, where they performed in
Santiago
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...
with local musician
Javiera Mena
Javiera Alejandra Mena Carrasco (born June 3, 1983) is a Chilean indie electropop musician living in Lavapiés, Madrid. She started her musical career in the Chilean indie music scene in 2001, and achieved wider success after the release of h ...
, who later opened for them in
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
and
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
. European stops include
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
,
Switzerland and
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
. On some of their American tour stops they appeared with the band Franklin for Short who joined them on stage for a few rousing numbers.
Their third album, called ''
Declaration of Dependence'', was released on 20 October 2009.
In June 2012, the band performed at the
Primavera Sound
Primavera Sound (commonly referred to as simply Primavera) is an annual music festival held in Parc del Fòrum in Barcelona, Spain that takes place between the end of May and beginning of June. The first edition took place in 2001 in Poble Espanyo ...
festivals in both Barcelona and Porto.
In 2017, Eirik released an album entitled 'Analog Dance Music' with his new band Kommode.
In March 2019, Kings of Convenience provided an update regarding their upcoming (fourth) album, stating that "the songs were written and even performed live, but when we tried to record it during 2016/2017 for a mixture of reasons the results just weren’t good enough
andby that time I (Erlend) didn’t have anymore energy to pour into it
... so2018 was a charging battery year, and now we are planning to try again".
On 30 April 2021, Kings of Convenience released a new song, "Rocky Trail", after 12 years without publishing music as the duo. They also announced, through their official social network channels, that their fourth studio album, ''
Peace or Love
''Peace or Love'' is the fourth studio album by Norwegian indie folk-pop duo Kings of Convenience. Released on 18 June 2021, it is their first album in 12 years. It features two song collaborations with Canadian musician Feist. It was precede ...
'', is scheduled to be released on 18 June 2021 via EMI.
In connection with the album release, 28th of June 2021 a documentary about the duo was released for the first time, where they talk about the new album, and in general about the unity between them. It´s available on Youtube and is made by their good friend
Stian Sævig, best known as the bass player in
Kakkmaddafakka
Kakkmaddafakka (KMF) is a Norwegian indie rock band formed and based in Bergen. They are known for their high energy live performances.
The band is one of many artists who emerged from Bergen, which the Norwegian press has called the "New Bergen ...
.
Discography
Albums
EPs
* ''Magic in the Air'' (Limited 3-track CD; includes cover of
a-ha's "
Manhattan Skyline
Manhattan Skyline is a Norwegian mathcore band based in Oslo, Norway. They are influenced by metal, hardcore, contemporary music, jazz, fusion and electronica.
After their performance at the 2005 Bodø Hardcore festival, The Faceless Masses ...
") (Jan 2001, for Magic! RPM magazine)
* ''
Playing Live in a Room'' (5-track CD) – Virgin – (2000)
* ''Kings of Convenience's Live Acoustic Sessions - Milan 2009'' (4 track EP) (2010)
Singles
Music videos
* 1999 – ''Failure''
* 1999 – ''
Toxic Girl
"Toxic Girl" is a single by the Norwegian indie rock duo Kings of Convenience. It was released in 2001, and peaked at 44 on the UK singles chart. It was released in three formats in the United Kingdom by Astralwerks.
The song gained some exposu ...
''
* 2004 – ''Misread''
* 2004 – ''
I'd Rather Dance with You''
* 2004 – ''Cayman Islands''
* 2009 – ''Mrs. Cold''
* 2009 – ''Boat Behind''
* 2009 – ''Me in You''
* 2021 – ''Rocky Trail''
Collaborations
*
Cornelius – "Drop (The Tusen Takk Rework)" (2002) and "Omstart" (2006)
*
Feist – "Know-How" and "The Build Up" (''Riot on an Empty Street''), "Cayman Islands" from the "Know-How" single (2004) and in "Catholic Country" (''Peace or Love'')
*
Biz Markie
Marcel Theo Hall (April 8, 1964 – July 16, 2021), known professionally as Biz Markie, was an American rapper, singer, songwriter, DJ, and record producer. Markie was best known for his 1989 single "Just a Friend", which became a Top 40 hit in ...
- "Clowns and Kings" Split Tour EP (2004)
References
External links
Kings of Convenience official siteDocumentary on Kings of Convenience
{{Authority control
Astralwerks artists
Norwegian indie rock groups
Norwegian indie pop groups
Musical groups established in 1999
1999 establishments in Norway
Musical groups from Bergen
Indie folk groups