Kings of Convenience

Overview

Talk about taking your own advice to heart. Since releasing their debut album Quiet Is the New Loud in 2001 the Norwegian folk-pop duo have been keeping things a little too low-key for their legions of fans around the globe, going on a three-year hiatus pretty much immediately afterwards and taking another five-year break after 2004's Riot on an Empty Street. In the last three years they've played less than ten live shows.

Not surprisingly, then, their appearance at the Sydney Opera House this February will also be their Australian debut, despite the fact that many of us have been familiar with their sound for over a decade. Most folk-anything acts nowadays are characterised soothing vocals and fragile guitars, but Erland Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe's stuff produces a zen sensation similar to what I imagine might happen after taking Class A drugs. Even electronic ears aren't immune, with Four Tet, Ladytron and Röyksopp all clamouring to remix the duo's acoustic jams.

Kings of Convenience's Opera House performance forms part of the contemporary music program that also includes performances by Rodrigo y Gabriela, First Aid Kit, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Dead Can Dance, Sarah Blasko, Neil Finn and Paul Kelly, and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.