Kings of Convenience
is an indie folk-pop duo from Bergen, Norway. Consisting of Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe, the musical group is known for their delicate tunes, calming voices, and intricately subtle guitar melodies[who?]. Both Øye and Bøe sing in their tracks, and both of them compose.
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KINGS OF CONVENIENCE TICKETS
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History
Øye and Bøe were both born in 1975 (Øye on
November 21 and Bøe on
October 25) and have known each other since they met while participating in a geography contest at the age of 10. 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 twosome were 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. 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
Belle & Sebastian and
Simon and Garfunkel as their inspiration and focused on more subtle melodies and messages.
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 has 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
Riot on an Empty Street
, topped
MTV's European list as the best music video of 2004. The album also featured contributions by
Leslie Feist.
The band had a period of inactivity, which led to speculations that they had stopped working together. But the duo recently played a one-off concert in
Mexico City on
March 7,
2007. There was also a concert scheduled for
March 6, but it had to be cancelled, because Erlend had a problem with "
Montezuma's Revenge" and was not feeling well. They played two concerts on
March 7 and announced they were going to start work on their new album in
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Most recently, in
2008 the band played concerts in the Northern Norwegian cities of
Tromsø on
January 21,
Svolvær on
January 25,
Bodø on
January 27 and
Umeå,
Sweden on
January 29 along with a concert in August in Stockholm.
Kings of convenience sent an email to fans on 14th June 2009 followed by a tour in Sept 2009.
It has since been confirmed that the third album, called
Declaration of Dependence
, will be released on
October 2,
2009 .
Discography
Albums
Year
| Album
| Peak Chart Positions
|
NOR [1]
| UK [2]
| ITA [3]
| FRA [4]
| U.S. Indie [5]
|
2001
| Quiet Is the New Loud
- First studio album
- Released:March 6, 2001
| 1
| 72
| —
| 103
| —
|
Versus
- First remix album
- Released:October 30, 2001
| 30
| —
| —
| —
| —
|
2004
| Riot on an Empty Street
- Second studio album
- Released:June 21, 2004
| 2
| 49
| 3
| 80
| 41
|
2009
| Declaration of Dependence
- Third studio album
- To be released:October 2, 2009
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EPs
- Magic in the Air
(Limited 3-track CD; includes cover of A-Ha's "Manhattan Skyline") (2001)
- Playing Live in a Room
(5-track CD) - Virgin - (2000)
Singles
Year
| Single
| Charts
| Album
|
UK
|
1999
| "Brave New World"
| —
|
|
"Failure"
| —
| Quiet is the New Loud
|
"Toxic Girl"
| —
|
2001
| "Failure" (re-release)
| 63
|
"Toxic Girl" (re-release)
| 44
|
"Winning a Battle, Losing the War"
| —
|
2004
| "Misread"
| —
| Riot on an Empty Street
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"I'd Rather Dance with You"
| 60
|
2005
| "Know How" (feat. Feist)
| —
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2009
| "Mrs. Cold"
| —
| Declaration of Dependence
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"Boat Behind"
| —
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Collaborations
- Cornelius - "Drop (The Tusen Takk Rework)" (2002) and "Omstart" (2006)
- Feist - "Know-How" and "The Build Up" (Riot on an Empty Street
) and in "Cayman Islands" from the "Know-How" single (2004)
References
- Discography - Norway (Kings of Convenience in Norweigan Charts)
- UK Chart Positions and Trajectories
- Kings of Convienience Album Chart Positions - Italy
- Discographie Kings of Convenience (Kings of Convenience dans les charts francais)
- Artist Chart History - Kings of Convenience