KoC Page The Star Interview

As it was, the press briefing with the duo was also a light-hearted affair, with their easy charm and laidback attitude giving the entire event in Singapore a nice informal atmosphere. The peculiar contrast of personalities between the two added an interesting slant to proceedings.

While the more serious-looking Bøe appeared uncomfortable and answered questions almost shyly; the more animated Øye was hogging the limelight with his curly red hair and trademark geeky spectacles, and delivering dry one-liners with an almost permanent cheeky grin.

Chocolate and belacan

Individually Øye and Bøe may seem as compatible as chocolate and belacan, but as a team they have gained an international cult following for their brand of acoustic music, which features wonderful melodies with well-thought-out lyrics accompanied by little more than a pair of acoustic guitars.

According to Bøe, it is very easy to get carried away by big musical ideas when the band has more members, so when they got together as a duo, they strove to take away as many elements as possible. The stripped down sound of two acoustic guitars and vocals were a big risk but the Kings of Convenience kept to their music plan.

“There is no way you can hide a bad song if it’s just you singing with a guitar!” he said. “Kings of Convenience is a project to see what we can do with small elements. We also wanted to bring back the warm sound of acoustic instruments.”

It is a formula that has seen their Quiet is the New Loud and Riot on an Empty Street albums gain worldwide recognition, and has even led to them being compared to legendary folk duo Simon and Garfunkel, because of the similarities in their music.

“We never really intended to sound like them initially. Actually, we wanted to be a powerful rock band, but our guitarist and drummer left,” Øye sighed. “We just did the best with what we had left, which was to make a lot of music, but by imagining that there are drums and an orchestra behind the guitars.

“All the same, I’m happy we’re compared to Simon and Garfunkel, and maybe in 20 years’ time, people will be saying, oh, that sounds like the old Kings of Convenience!”

The different sides

That Bøe is the more studious of the two comes as no surprise. After all, he has spent the last seven years in their hometown of Bergen studying clinical psychology, and is just finishing up his thesis on architectural psychology (which is the study on how our surroundings affect us, he explained ).

“People are always asking me, are you a psychologist or a professional musician?” he said. “Personally, I prefer to keep music a passion, and to remain an amateur musician – who are really people who do what they do because they love it.”

On the other hand, the geeky Øye (who apparently can name every capital city in the world and is also a genius in Trivial Pursuit) is by far the more adventurous and ambitious, music-wise. He is currently based in Berlin, where he has been developing his music prowess by moonlighting as a DJ, releasing a solo electronica album, as well as showing an enthusiasm for collaborating with other musicians.

“I like to explore the possibilities of working with people I meet without even knowing how it’s going to be like. When you work with other people, a whole new level of sound and music opens itself up,” he explained.

As a result of Øye’s exploits, Bøe doesn’t attract as much attention from fans, despite being the one with the more conventional handsome ‘popstar’ looks,

“Sometimes we go walking around on the street together, people would stop Erlend and ask him, ‘Are you the guy from Kings of Convenience?’” said Bøe. “I usually get ignored, and sometimes, they would even hand me a camera and ask me, ‘Can you take a picture for us?’”

“It suits me fine, because I never really wanted to be famous,” he added modestly.

Homesick Scandinavians

While the first few years of touring tended to take a toll on Bøe (he once fell sick while on tour and only fully recovered months later), he has slowly begun to enjoy the life of a travelling musician.

“I struggled to get used to it for the first few years, but now I’m starting to feel good about it,” he said.

Still, it would seem that the thought of home is never very far from his mind. The same goes for Øye, who looked almost homesick at one point when Bøe was describing the beauty of the views and mountains in his hometown in a most whimsically poetic way possible.

Indeed, for all their international acclaim, the duo remains very much attached to their Scandinavian homeland, which seems to enhance their close friendship.

Theirs is a friendship that harks back to the days when (according to the biography on their official website www.kingsofconvenien ce.com) they would sit on a bench by the window of an ‘old white house’, and play songs through the night. Alas, that little bit of their history is inaccessible to them right now.

“The old white house belonged to my mom and dad, and unfortunately, they don’t love each other anymore,” said Øye, feigning sadness. “Only my dad is staying there now and he rented part of the house, including the room with that window to other people. I don’t know. So now, we’re trying to find a new window and a new white house. Eirik just bought a new house in Bergen, so maybe that can be the new ‘old white house’.”

Øye also reckons the distance between the two musicians isn’t a big problem.

“There are also now direct flights from Bergen to Berlin, so hopefully we can meet up more often.”

Nevertheless, while the prospect of them getting together more often bodes well for their fans, Bøe admits that it might take some time before the next Kings of Convenience album is released.

“We like to take as much time as we want in between records, so it might be a few more years before our next album,” he said.

To fans, that may seem like an eternity, but as Øye and Bøe have proved so far, they are at their best when they are taking their time to be themselves, to enjoy making their own brand of music, and most of all, when they are doing things at their own convenience.