Much of today's popular music is heavy on the electronic beats, multi-tracked vocals, and slick production sheen. Not so for the Norwegian duo, Kings of Convenience. Their music is an altogether acoustic affair. The World's Emma Lydersen tells us all about it in today's Global Hit.

Kings of Convenience is made up of Erlend Oye and Eirik Glambek Boe. Although they're Norwegian, they sing in English. And Boe says, they're often compared to an old American singing duo.

Boe: "We've been compared a number of times to Simon and Garfunkel which I find is a very obvious comparison because Erlend is a tall guy and he has red hair and I'm actually not that short, I'm actually six feet tall, but I look very short next to him. So at pictures we resemble Simon and Garfunkel "

But Boe is being sly. The comparison might just have something to do with the music.

Kings of Convenience debuted three years ago with the album "Quiet Is The New Loud." The title quickly became the duo's motto. Audiences in Europe and the United States were won over by their gentle melodies. But, as Simon and Garfunkel can testify, creating music can sometimes be a harsh experience. Here's Boe again.

Boe: "It's a funny thing when people listen to our songs and when they hear our vocal harmonies they get the impression that we are very harmonious people and that our collaboration is very harmonious because our music is so peaceful. I've been a little bit intrigued by this because the amount of agression we show each other in the studio is kind of the antithesis of the music that we will actually record."

One track on the album is called "Misread." Boe and Oye do sometimes misread each other. Despite, or perhaps because of, the ego clashes, their collaboration remains fruitful. In fact, Boe says the two of them work best when they're not in the same country. That's why Kings of Convenience separated for a while after touring briefly with the first album. Oye made Berlin his home. Boe settled in Bergen, a windswept city on the westcoast of Norway. He's now nearing the end of his studies in Clinical Psychology at the university there. The degree takes 7years. Boe says he's determined to complete it even though his music career is taking off.

Boe: "When things are going really well with Kings of Convenience I get this feeling of leaving earth and going into the sky and it makes me a little bit frightened.So being able to go back to my psychology studies gives me a feeling of gravitation and security at the same time. I really think this keeps me grounded."

Kings of Convenience has just released their second album. It's called "Riot On An Empty Street." Other musicians were invited to join the duo on several of their songs.

Boe says finding the right musicians wasn't difficult, because the album was recorded at Grieghallen, home of the Bergen Symphony Orchestra.

Boe: "Every day in the elevator we were meeting classical musicians who were carrying their instruments, so we invited a lot of people in every day, come on please come and play on some of our songs. So we basically tried out a lot of different intstruments on each song. We ended up using a few of them, but most of them got thrown away but it was a very playful approach."

On the song "I'd Rather Dance With You," there's the usual guitar and vocals, but also a piano and a viola.

Kings of Convenience are currently touring in Europe. They hope to play in the United States later this fall, to prove to American audiences that quiet is the new loud.