Last year’s ‘Quiet Is The New Loud’ saw Norway’s Kings Of Convenience emerge from the dirge of other half-priced acoustic acts to strong critical acclaim. Eirik Glambek Bøe and Erlend Øye were not short-changing anyone. The harmonic simplicity of KOC’s angelina-fragile vocals and subtle guitar textures carried these Bergen boys into the hearts of the enlightened. Pixelsurgeon caught up with the kooky Erlend Øye to see just why Kings Of Convenience have veered off at a tangent in a bid to spear the dance fraternity with remix album ‘Versus’...

‘Versus’ is a compilation of tracks from ‘Quiet Is The New Loud’ in remix form. How did you come up with the idea?

Erlend: It was kind of a result of having a few remixes made for b-sides to our singles. And then I thought it was a shame because they didn’t really work like that. You know a quiet song, then a remix, then another quiet song. So thought it’d be a much better idea to put them all on one release. We didn’t have that many remixes but at some point, electronic musicians, who liked our music, began to approach us. Then asking them to come up with a remix for us came as a natural thing.

So did the likes of Andy Votel, Alfie, Royskopp and Four Tet approach you or did also you have a wish list of people you wanted involved in the project?

It was a bit of both. Our record company came up with three of them - Four Tet, Bamboo Soul and Riton - and we approached some ourselves. Alfie and Andy Votel are old friends and Royskopp are from our home town…

So how much control did you have over what the other artists were doing with your music and what was to appear on the album?

Obviously, we are not going to release anything under the name Kings Of Convenience if we are not happy with it. Ever. The hard part was putting it all together and how the running order would sound. At first I really didn’t think it would happen at all. But eventually we found a way to work it as one album – I hope.

Was there anything proposed that wasn’t up to scratch and you weren’t prepared to release under your name?

Ummm, no. I made a little edit of the Bamboo Soul track [Leaning Against A Wall] but that was just a fraction.

Are there any artists you would have loved to get involved with this project or you would consider for the future?

Yeah. The awkward things was that this record happened really quickly so we didn’t have a lot of time. There are loads of people I would have asked. Felix The Housecat, I’d have asked him. I would have liked Phoenix too – that’d be have been dead fun. And Cornelius…

Have you got any preferred tracks on the record?

I haven’t got a favourite but the Four Tet remix [The Weight Of My Words] is the one which really came away from the original. And I just didn’t expect that.

What kind of reaction do you expect to get from ‘Versus’ after your last album received such acclaim?

To be honest I expect some people to be disappointed. But so far it’s been very positive. But if we get new fans on board that’d be great. And if they then go and look up ‘Quiet Is The New Loud’ that’d be even better.

Do you intend taking these remixed tracks out on the road?

No way. That’d be far too complicated. When we play live, it’s always just me and Eirik.

Have either you or Eirik turned you hands to remixing for other artists?

Well, we’ve just been approached to do something for Cornelius. We also turned down an offer in the past by another artist we didn’t like but I’m not going into names. The Cornelius thing will definitely happen – it’ll be fun. We can do remixing just like anyone else can. We’ll go into a studio and just add stuff. What I think is very interesting with our album is the Alfie and evil Tordivel re-makes – because they’re [re-makes] an entirely new concept. It’s like a band doing a remix of a cover version. This is not very usual but a much more interesting way of doing things. Obviously, Alfie could release a version of us and put it on their B-sides but then Kings Of Convenience fans may never hear it.

So is the concept of re-makes the route you’ll take with the Cornelius project?

Yeah, I think we’re pretty much going to mess around with it a lot.

When we last met you came across as quite purist in the manner in which you write Kings Of Convenience songs. Isn’t there an argument that a good song shouldn’t be tampered with?

What is important to me is that we release this as one album and make sure that it’s a focussed album. I don’t really see a problem with it. This record doesn’t have that kind of puritan aesthetic and if you like that idea, you can but it. It also opens us up to new people.

You took your chilled-out and blissful sounds to the White Island…

It was our first time in Ibiza and I think people were a little confused. I don’t think they were used to an acoustic act that wasn’t like flamenco or something. But we had four days out there and played some fun shows. It’s funny because Ibiza’s like heaven and hell on one little island.

With these dancier elements to your name, do you see yourselves blurring the boundaries between your acoustic guitars and dance music in the future?

I don’t think we could do it under the Kings Of Convenience name. What a lot of people appreciate about us is that we are the complete opposite of the other stuff they listen to. Our mission is to give people something simple in a world where everything is many-layered, many-textured and so complicated.

Aside from the Cornelius project, what is next for Kings Of Covenience?

We’re due to start working on our next album and I am working on a solo project – which will be very electronic. I’m basically going to work with loads of electronic artists. So far we’ve just made three or four songs and are waiting to get more people on board.

Do any of these solo tracks have names?

Yes, but I’m going to keep the artists and song names to myself until we’re closer to finishing. I’ll think I’ll release the project under my name but I’m not quite sure yet just how good Erlend Øye is.

You also make a cameo on the Royskopp album…

And that’s what’s inspired me to work on my own solo album.

With the emergence of acts such as yourselves and Royskopp breaking the British market, do you think that Norway’s the new France?

I think it’d be fairer to say that Bergen is the new Manchester. It always rains a lot.

Interview: Michael Gently © 2001 Pixelsurgeon/Michael Gently