It has been five long years since Kings of Convenience‘s last album (Riot On An Empty Street), and while we’ve been quelled somewhat by frontman Erlend Øye‘s side project, (The Whitest Boy Alive), there’s a definitely thrill about the Norwegian pop outfit’s return. Their new album, Declaration of Dependence, is out October 20 and is being touted by the group as “the most rhythmical pop record ever that features no percussion or drums.” There might be some issues with what is being defined as “percussion,” but we can address that later. Øye says that “when we started out we were afraid of sounding like other artists,” Erlend says. “But now we feel pretty much alone.”
Alone is a bit of an exaggeration. It was on Riot that we first heard Feist outside of the Broken Social Scene box. Now she’s a star. They probably have more friends than ever, and after several years of Øye working with others it will be interesting to see him return home, as it were, to working with Eirik Bøe on what is decidedly an album about two musicians who work well (and perhaps co-dependently) with each other.
Their label (EMI, worldwide) has described the album as “the story of two people living two very different lives sensing that they are immensely more powerful together than apart. In that sense it is the most adult, the most mature record Kings of Convenience have ever made. That it is their most gripping, their most revealing is, if anything, just a by-product of that honesty and their endeavor.” See, the Kings aren’t fucking around.
“Mrs. Cold” is the first single, and as you can see on the tracklisting below, there’s a song called “Riot On An Empty Street.” That’s not confusing.
Tracklisting
1. 24-25
2. Mrs Cold
3. Me In You
4. Boat Behind
5. Rule My World
6. My Ship Isn’t Pretty
7. Renegade
8. Power Of Not Knowing
9. Peacetime Resistance
10. Freedom And Its Owner
11. Scars On Land
12. Second To Numb
13. Riot On An Empty Street
Tour Dates:
October
Sat 3 NALEN STOCKHOLM SWEDEN
Sun 4 MEJERIET LUND SWEDEN
Mon 5 TRAIN ARHUS DENMARK
Tue 6 VEGA COPENHAGEN DENMARK
Thu 8 HUXLEYS BERLIN GERMANY
Fri 9 KONZERHAUS DORTMUND GERMANY
Sat 10 KAMPAGNEL HAMBURG GERMANY
Sun 11 PARADISO AMSTERDAM NETHERLANDS
Tue 13 DE LA WARR PAVILION BEXHILL UK
Wed 14 BARBICAN LONDON UK
Thu 15 WARWICK ARTS CENTRE COVENTRY UK
Wed 28 CONCILIAZIONE ROME ITALY
Thu 29 MILAN CONSERVATORIO ITALY
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