The Kings Of Convenience

Kings of Convenience
Kings of Convenience, live in 2005
Background information
Origin	Bergen, Norway
Genres	Indie pop, indie folk
Years active	1999–present
Labels	EMI, Astralwerks, Kindercore
Associated acts	The Whitest Boy Alive
Website	http://www.kingsofconvenience.eu/
Members	Erlend Øye Eirik Glambek Bøe

Kings of Convenience is an indie folk-pop duo from Bergen, Norway. Consisting of Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe, the musical group is known for their delicate tunes, calming voices, and intricate and subtle guitar melodies. One can also hear some Bossa Nova influence. Øye and Bøe both compose and sing the songs.

Øye and Bøe were both born in 1975 (Øye on November 21 and Bøe on October 25) and have known each other since they met in the same class at school. Their first musical collaboration was a comedic rap about a teacher. At sixteen, they played together in the band Skog ("forest") with two other friends, releasing one EP, Tom Tids Tale, before breaking up and later forming the Kings duo.

The duo was signed to the American label Kindercore after appearing in European festivals during the summer of 1999. After a spell living in London in 2001, they released their debut album Quiet Is the New Loud. The album was produced by Coldplay producer Ken Nelson. The album was very successful and even lent its name to a small movement of musicians in the pop underground (including acoustic contemporaries such as Turin Brakes) which took Elliott Smith, Belle & Sebastian and Simon & Garfunkel as their inspiration and focused on more subtle melodies and messages.

Versus, an album of remixes of tracks from Quiet Is the New Loud, came out shortly after. After this breakthrough year, not much was heard from the band. Øye spent the next few years living in Berlin and doing solo material, releasing music under the DJ Kicks series as well as a solo album titled Unrest. He also had a side project named The Whitest Boy Alive.