Norwegian duo Kings Of Convenience were widely credited with being the originators of the so-called New Acoustic Movement back in 2001, with their debut LP, Quiet Is The New Loud seeing Eirik Glambek Boe and Erlene Oye heralded as the natural heirs to Simon & Garfunkel.
Much like their debut, Riot On An Empty Street is perfect late night, post-pub or club fare, with nary a voice raised in anger throughout its 12 songs. That said, despite the fact that they don’t beat you around the head with toe-tapping melodies, there is something quietly compelling and gently addictive about this album, which in parts resembles nothing so much as early Belle & Sebastian.
Opener ‘Homesick’ and the tender ‘Surprise Ice’ could almost be out-takes from Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme, such is the quality of the harmonies, although it must be said that neither Boe nor Oye have anything like’s Art’s soaring falsetto. ‘Misread’ has a nagging insistency all of its own, albeit an inoffensive kind of tenaciousness: it taps you on the shoulder politely rather than grabbing you roughly by the short and curlies.
‘Cayman Islands’ plays like a dream sequence, seeming to wash over you in illusory waves rather than coming on strong, while ‘Live Long’ makes for seriously laid-back listening. In contrast, ‘Love Is No Big Truth’ has a more poptastic shimmer, while ‘I’d Rather Dance With You’ sounds positively upbeat in comparison, complete with an 80s-ish production job that makes them sound not unlike Aha. Canadian chanteuse Leslie Feist lends her tonsils to two tracks, the flamenco-tinged ‘Know How’ and the beautiful closer, ‘The Build Up’, where she duets with Erlend on one of this album’s highlights.
It seems these Kings run a benign dictatorship, shunning a show of force in favour of sensual seduction, which nonetheless wins you over with gently strummed guitars, pristine harmonies and the odd string section thrown in for good measure.