Kings of Convenience

Biography

Kings of Convenience is an indie folk 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 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 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 Loud29 January 2001 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11Winning a Battle, Losing the War3:552Toxic Girl3:093Singing Softly to Me3:094I Don’t Know What I Can Save You From4:385Failure3:346The Weight of My Words4:077The Girl From Back Then2:308Leaning Against the Wall3:189Little Kids3:4610Summer on the Westhill4:3411The Passenger3:1312Parallel Lines5:12Disc 21Manhattan Skyline3:102Envoy4:17. 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 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.
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 had 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 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, Svolvær and Bodø, and Swedish city Umeå along with a concert in August in Stockholm. The band then toured North America, Latin America and Europe, including stops in Boston, New York, Toronto, Detroit; Latin American stops in Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Brazil and Chile, where they performed in Santiago with local musician Javiera Mena, who later opened for them in Spain and Portugal. European stops include Italy, Switzerland and Spain. 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×Declaration of Dependence1 January 2009 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks124‐253:382Mrs. Cold3:063Me in You3:094Boat Behind3:415Rule My World3:326My Ship Isn’t Pretty3:477Renegade4:168Power of Not Knowing2:239Peacetime Resistance2:5410Freedom and Its Owner3:2311Riot on an Empty Street4:0512Second to Numb3:3713Scars on Land3:52, was released on 20 October 2009.
In June 2012, the band performed at the Primavera Sound festivals in both Barcelona and Porto.
In 2017, Eirik released an album entitled 'Analog Dance Music' with his other 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[, and] by that time I (Erlend) didn’t have anymore energy to pour into it[, ... so] 2018 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×Rocky Trail30 April 2021 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Rocky Trail3:30", 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 Love18 June 2021 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Rumours4:092Rocky Trail3:303Comb My Hair3:064Angel3:155Love Is a Lonely Thing2:456Fever3:567Killers3:538Ask for Help4:079Catholic Country3:0010Song About It3:0411Washing Machine2:45, was released on 18 June 2021 via EMI.

Collaborations

Cornelius – "Drop (The Tusen Takk Rework)" (2002) and "Omstart" (2006)
Feist – "Know-How×Know-How21 February 2005 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAKnow-How (radio mix)3:17BCayman Islands2:25" and "The Build Up" (Riot on an Empty Street), "Cayman Islands" from the "Know-How" single (2004) and in "Catholic Country" and "Love is a Lonely Thing" (Peace or Love)