It’s an irony - The name of quiet rock Scandinavian band, that is.

Erlend Oye, one half of Kings of Convenience, explains during a press conference for the Mosaic Music Festival:

“Things are so convenient, like here in Singapore. Everything is just so much easier. But easier is not necessarily better.“We’re drawn towards resistance, to doing what’s difficult.”  

Eirik Glambek Boe, the other King, agrees. “It would be so easy to get carried away with our music. Most music has a big mix of good and bad stuff. We’re trying to take away the unnecessary elements of music.”

 It is clear that these boys have done what they set out to do now, selling more than 200,000 copies of their album in 2001, Quiet is the new Loud, internationally, and gaining throngs of cult followers all around the world.

 
And it’s easy to see why – Eirik’s conventional good looks, Erlend’s irresistible boyish charm, and their smooth, soothing guitar melodies and voices, provide the world with a much-needed oasis away from mainstream pop and rock.  

Eirik, who is in this 7th year of getting a degree in Architectual Psychology says Kings of Convenience hopes that they will never become professional musicians.“An amateur musician keeps music as only a passion. I would love to stay an amateur musician always.” 
 

Being mentioned as the legendary Simon and Garfunkel, whom they have been compared to countless times, was never on their agenda, Erlend clarifies. “We never intended to sound like Simon and Garfunkel,” he says ruefully. “We intended to sound like a powerful rock band!”

Both the kings confess to being big fans of imagination, and encourage their fans to do the same. “We’re trying to do the best we can. You have to imagine the drums and orchestra behind the guitar,” Erlend says, on the topic of their unique minimalist sound.

And part of the plan in keeping their specific sound is staying new to each other. Erlend says,“We both have interests in other directions. We don’t like to rush things, so we take as much time as we want.

“We’re both adventurous people. And we’ve both gone loud before,” he adds. The quiet approach, after all, only came about after both boys had dabbled in their own sounds.

Despite the time they spend apart from each other, both the kings admit that working together leads to countless arguments.

Deciding on the kind of music, the direction of the lyrics, the topic – basically, everything they do is argued over, which explains why they need to take their time for each song.

Even during the press conference, they openly interrupted, corrected and ridiculed each other – in a most endearing way, of course. 

Eirik agrees, saying, “ They go up to Erlend and say ‘Hey, you’re that guy from Kings of Convenience!’ and then they ask me to take a picture for them.”

But that’s the way he likes it, as both prefer to keep low profiles. As Erlend puts it, “We’re known by a small group of people in every place, not by just everybody.”

And as the boys continue quietly penetrating with their music, you can’t help but agree – Quiet is the new loud.