ERLEND ØYE - Unrest

Erlend Øye is the likeable nerd from Kings Of Convenience, the Norwegian duo who took the world by storm with their only album “Quiet is the new loud” two years ago, a fine example of acoustic folk. Live, the bespectacled Erlend quickly revealed himself as the fake-shy one of the pair, and used to close shows by coming down to dance among the crowd to one of their tracks remixed in an electro vein. His admiration for the seemingly distant world of IDM and club culture was already evident from lending his voice to an album by fellow Norwegians Röyksopp, right up to the surprising, and good, release of the Kings of Convenience record remixed by various musicians from the international electronic scene. So the trick works, and it must have been great fun for our fake-shy guy, so much so that here he is attempting a solo outing precisely in the genre furthest removed from the acoustic guitars that brought him to prominence.

So here comes “Unrest”, 10 songs sung by Øye and handled by as many musicians and DJs, each of a different nationality; let's even pretend to believe they're all friends of his, gathered around a laid table and a few drinks to create something spontaneous, with no record label meddling involved, since in the end it's the result that counts… unfortunately. The ten tracks on this album, which aim to achieve a refined electronic pop sung in an intimate voice, in fact turn out to be one more dull than the other. There are few moments that are, if not interesting, at least pleasant to listen to.

The opening track, produced by Morgan Geist of Metro Area, reveals sounds of refined 80s pop, somewhere between Depeche Mode and Donald Fagen, with Øye singing in a detached voice; the same formula is repeated identically on the following track “Sheltered Life”, and while “Sudden Rush” (courtesy of Soviet) at least tries to have a hummable chorus, little by little the album settles into a single monotonous groove, with very few spikes that rouse it from its torpor. Worth saving are “Prego amore” (handled by Jolly Music), with a tighter rhythm and an at least bizarre chorus in Italian (“Prego amore vieni con me”…), the synth-pop that's part Bronski Beat, part Ultramarine, “The Athlete”, and the electro-glitch of Prefuse 73 on “Every Party Has a Winner and a Loser”, which at least tries to stir things up. But in the end, a 7-minute yawn called “A While Ago and Recently” (featuring Timo Maas, no less), and an utterly predictable metallic vocal effect on the closing track, arranged by Berlin's Schneider TM, round off the mess.

It's not so much that the album itself is bad; it's that with a roster of collaborators of this caliber, anyone could have made an album like this “Unrest”, which instead turns out to be dull and needlessly clever for its own good. Then again, with a launch slogan like “The coolest record of 2003”, which reeks of a con as much as stale fish, even our own prejudices get their revenge. Chin up, Erlend, pick the guitar back up, summer bonfires on the beach are just around the corner, you can plan your redemption.

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27/10/2006