Kings Of Convenience - 'Riot On An Empty Street' (Source)
4/5
By: Tim Dellow
I set out with guns blazing. Sometimes massacring artists can be fun. Especially if it's the height of Euro 2004 Foreigner Hating season and you're confronted by a Nordic duo who open their album with a direct Simon and Garfunkel rewrite. Add to this the fact that this odd couple have survived NAM, shell-shocked from the punishment of the dismal music-weekly's self-serving scene creation, and it's easy to justify the fact that I was out for blood.
But how could I just kill a man? Being on a major-label even seems a lame excuse for cold-blooded career murder; they're probably receiving as many threats from their own side, being sent into battle with nothing but a detuned acoustic guitar.
And they've made a beautiful album. The subtle jazz-folk swing of 'Misread' shocked us. This is actually really good. And subtle is the key word. Acoustica that doesn't rely on three-chord drudge but picks itself up and brushes itself off to reveal a smiling beatnik skeleton, a double-bass, casual piano and a soul. English may be their second language, but this only serves to accentuate their eccentricities which become more endearing by the second.
By the third track, the sweeping strings will have brushed away the cobwebs that have covered your eyes for so long. You actually like pop music, with a glorious tunes and dark humour, and songs about unhappy bosses, and faces that look the same, and you realise that sometimes you just have to sit back and accept that feeling of mono no aware in which you are, and you exist, and life is sad but beautiful.
By the second side, the Kings shift towards celebration, bringing Chic rhythms to 'I'd Rather Dance With You', leaving you refreshed by such a delicately crafted, listenable album. Tonight I'll lie down my sword and shield by the riverside. Because some things are worth fighting against, and better things are worth fighting for.
Artists in this article: Kings Of Convenience
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