Kings of Convenience - Quiet is the New Loud
Kings of Convenience
Quiet is the New Loud
Mawlaw/Astralwerks 2001
Produced by:
Personnel:
Erland Oye - steel string guitar, electric guitar, piano, harmony vocals, drums, vocals on Failure
Eirik Glambek Boe - vocals, nylon string guitar, piano, electric guitar
Additional Personnel:
Ian Bracken, Matt McGeever - cello
Ben Dumville - trumpet
Tarjei Strom - drum fills
I picked this up for a dollar in a bargain bin; I figured it was on the Astralwerks label, so it couldn't be that bad. It isn't. It just ins't all that great either. It's irony-free indie pop, and therefore lends itself to sounding a bit too self-important. Or at least it would, if it could get past some very simple trappings.
The strong part of this Norwegian duos effort is it's instrumentation. It is spartan but not empty. It has a dreamy and is dominated by a warm acoustic feel that is just one step more complex than say, Simon and Garfunkle. Nice use of cello in I Don't Know What I Can Save You From, and Failure has an almost Beatlesesque feel underneath a dour exterior as well as occasional muted trumpet bits on Singing Softly To Me. There are a few stronger performers musically here, most notably the more upbeat Toxic Girl, the straigh-rip-of-Marc Hollis melanchoic The Girl From Back Then, and the Norway-by-Way-of-Ipanema Leaning Against the Wall.
Lyrically as I said, it's irony free, so it comes off as stodgy and bland quite often; typical Alan Alda toucy feely college angst territory. Fortunately the music makes it still an acceptable listen...especially for a buck.
Quiet is the New Loud
Mawlaw/Astralwerks 2001
Produced by:
Personnel:
Erland Oye - steel string guitar, electric guitar, piano, harmony vocals, drums, vocals on Failure
Eirik Glambek Boe - vocals, nylon string guitar, piano, electric guitar
Additional Personnel:
Ian Bracken, Matt McGeever - cello
Ben Dumville - trumpet
Tarjei Strom - drum fills
I picked this up for a dollar in a bargain bin; I figured it was on the Astralwerks label, so it couldn't be that bad. It isn't. It just ins't all that great either. It's irony-free indie pop, and therefore lends itself to sounding a bit too self-important. Or at least it would, if it could get past some very simple trappings.
The strong part of this Norwegian duos effort is it's instrumentation. It is spartan but not empty. It has a dreamy and is dominated by a warm acoustic feel that is just one step more complex than say, Simon and Garfunkle. Nice use of cello in I Don't Know What I Can Save You From, and Failure has an almost Beatlesesque feel underneath a dour exterior as well as occasional muted trumpet bits on Singing Softly To Me. There are a few stronger performers musically here, most notably the more upbeat Toxic Girl, the straigh-rip-of-Marc Hollis melanchoic The Girl From Back Then, and the Norway-by-Way-of-Ipanema Leaning Against the Wall.
Lyrically as I said, it's irony free, so it comes off as stodgy and bland quite often; typical Alan Alda toucy feely college angst territory. Fortunately the music makes it still an acceptable listen...especially for a buck.
posted by theloniusfunk at 3:42 PM
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