Some bands make music that sounds like a conversation conducted in half-whispers in a kitchen at two in the morning. There is no need for stadium drums or synthesisers the size of a refrigerator. Two guitars and two voices will do, along with something that cannot be programmed: friendship. That is how the story of Kings of Convenience begins, with Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe, two boys from Bergen, Norway.
Bergen, city of melancholy
Bergen is a peculiar place, Norway's second-largest city with an end-of-the-world atmosphere: fjords, mountains, a harbour and rain on more than two hundred days a year. Under those conditions people tend to do one of two things, stay home or start a band.
A surprising number of important projects emerged there, including Röyksopp, Kakkmaddafakka, Datarock and later Kygo. In the early 2000s, people began talking about a "Bergen Wave", a scene exporting intelligent pop and indie from Norway. Kings of Convenience were its quietest presence.
Two boys from one class
Øye and Bøe met at school in Bergen. Their first song together was not a delicate folk ballad but a rap about a teacher. Guitars and more serious ambitions came later. First they formed a school band named Skog, meaning forest, which quickly dissolved. Instead of parting, they tried once more as a duo.
The name Kings of Convenience is gently ironic, as though they were admitting that the simplicity of two guitars and voices suited them better than a spectacular rock show.
Quiet as a manifesto
They released Quiet Is the New Loud in 2001. When indie music was noisy and electric, they decided to play more softly: two-part harmonies, acoustic guitars and minimalism. Critics inevitably heard Simon & Garfunkel. Ken Nelson, known for his work with Coldplay, produced the record, but the result was completely different. These songs resembled conversations more than performances.
Paradoxically, quiet became the duo's signature. Audiences can become so attentive at their concerts that you hear the breathing of the person beside you. It is almost the opposite of the standard indie show.
An introvert and a traveller
The two musicians are nearly opposites. Eirik Glambek Bøe is more withdrawn, studied psychology at the University of Bergen and remained closely connected to the city. That psychological sensitivity appears in his words, which prefer subtle observations of relationships to declarations of enormous love.
Erlend Øye is a cosmopolitan DJ, producer and traveller. He has lived in Berlin, Barcelona, Bologna and Sicily, created The Whitest Boy Alive and produced younger Bergen groups, including Kakkmaddafakka's Hest. The local scene behaves like a small family. Eirik resembles a Norwegian autumn. Erlend resembles an airport. Somewhere between them, songs appear.
A quiet that lasted
After the success of Quiet Is the New Loud and Riot on an Empty Street, the duo disappeared for a long period. There was no dramatic conflict. Each simply followed a different path. Exhausted by intense touring, they had considered ending the project even after the debut.
Kings of Convenience never truly split up. They worked at their own tempo. When Peace or Love arrived in 2021, the music sounded exactly as before, as though recorded in the room next door rather than a studio. Perhaps that is why it endured. In a world that shouts with increasing frequency, they had the courage from the beginning to speak more quietly.
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