Complex convenience

SHANNON TEOH

Feb 13:

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Critically acclaimed acoustic group Kings of Convenience visit Singapore for the Mosaic Festival next month. SHANNON TEOH discovers that their simple music disguises potent minds.

IRONY, my friends, is a wicked, wicked thing. For example, phones are a great convenience. They let you talk to people from the other side of the world, like Bergen, Norway, where Eirik Glambek Bøe lives. But then, connecting him and me via Singapore, where they will play on March 16, is some dodgy wiring/date transfer that lacerates his already accented mumble.

So, the irony, of course, is that they’re called the Kings of Convenience. But nothing about this was convenient. Today’s phoner had been postponed from yesterday at the same time because his earlier interviews had dragged on too long.

But I am only a drop in the ocean it would seem. Eirik and Erlend Øye form the two-man sovereignty of the soft and quiet, once pronounced by NME as the New Acoustic Movement (which never really stopped to begin with nor did it accelerate), which is far from a convenient arrangement.

Their acclaimed sophomore effort Riot On An Empty Street was recorded in the midst of Eirik’s psychology degree and whilst Erlend was pursuing his solo career as an electronic artiste, spinning in various clubs in Berlin.

"We have been away from each other for a long time. And outside of the band, we live very different lives. But we’ve gotten used to it," Eirik tells me.

Thankfully it’s only the two 31-year-olds then, as Eirik reveals when talking about the band’s name.

"I can’t really explain. Because when we were choosing it, there were many different feelings," he says. "People can find their own meaning but to us, it’s just two guys and two guitars, which is a whole lot more convenient than being in a full band. It’s just a lot simpler."

And simpler it is, in terms of logistics and also sound. Acoustic guitar driven, with a dash of percussions and keys on certain songs, their melodies are infectious and are more than just folk musings. Both compose and play guitar and Eirik takes up most of the lead vocals.

Very much like Simon & Garfunkel before them then. It’s a kind of pop that teeters on being embarrassing but the Kings have an edgier feel to them. They would qualify under terms like indie or alternative where their predecessors would not have.

Which was probably what tied up the appearance of Leslie Fiest, of highly-tipped Canadian indie outfit, Broken Social Scene, on Riot.

"We met her in Berlin a few years ago. She was playing solo in a tiny club with just a guitar and I was just blown away by a magical performance. We just decided to call her and ask her to record with us," explains Eirik.

One may point to a certain cerebral link. While it is mere trivia that Eirik’s girlfriend, Ina Grung, appears on the cover of both Riot and debut Quiet Is The New Loud, the second occurrence was no mere accident or playful choice.

"For the first album, we were driving around with our photographer and she was the driver. For the last shot we just decided she’d be in the picture to remember the day by and it ended up being used. But for the second one, we wanted to play on Edvard Munch’s painting, Jealousy."

The group has also performed in the past in protest concerning a deal being brokered between the group’s hometown of Bergen and Clear Channel, an American ticketing and radio corporation, which would have involved providing the city with 900 bus shelters in exchange for advertising rights on 240 of them for a period of 15 years.

"We didn’t actually fight Clear Channel. It was a collective campaign to keep public space free as place for comment, not private companies. It’d be very unfortunate for democracy when private companies can take over public space. It’s the arena where you can influence people the most so we try to tell politicians in Bergen that certain things should remain public."

Admittedly, bus stops may be a point of interest to Eirik, whose degree will be completed by the middle of the year, since one of his favourite topics is architectural psychology and professes a love of city planning. He, in fact, was in KL some years back on a stopover to Vietnam.

"I remember mostly that it was hot," he quips. "There’s a lot I like about the historical architecture. It gives the sense and aesthetic of of time. But I know that in KL, a lot of old buildings have been torn down and I would’ve liked to see more preservation. But sometimes too much money goes into development."