Kings Of Convenience’s remodelling/remixing/collaborating reveals that there is something strangely familiar

Remixing has become a way of industry making one musical genre appeal to the sector of public who otherwise wouldn’t bother listening to it in the first place, which, predictably, sometimes works but more often – misfires. So, Kings Of Convenience is a strange one inasmuch that it falls short of achieving that goal. Surely I have no idea what was, and if there was one actually, the notion behind this plus, I am confused when it rains…

Alas, the parent album, ‘Quiet Is The New Loud’, came out just a few months ago and another peculiar thing about this enterprise is that it is the kind of music that usually doesn’t get remixed. So, all in all – looks like an interesting listening prospect. But, it will have a problem to convince anyone outside of their established fandom.

Well, in parts, certainly. KoC are a Norwegian lo-fi band of the nu-folk persuasion and there are not many places you can go from there. The obvious one is to go the jazz-way, chill-out mode and relaxing rather than beefin’-up the tempo. It would be difficult as well because Eirik’s vocal determines the mood and scope of alteration. (For the best part it is homage to Art Garfunkel, it has been mentioned.)

The effect is a normal service of slight modification with the exceptions being the Manc-indie darlings Alfie’s Remaking of ‘Failure’, Ladytron’s remixing (into an analogue-cyberland) of ‘Little Kids’ and Twisted Nerve label’s co-founder Andy Votel giving some meat to the most accomplished song on the (original) album, ‘Winning A Battle, Losing a War’.

10 different artists, plus KoC, three songs in two different versions, six ‘new’ ones, and it all add up to this being an ironic ‘Versus’, its true nature being more like ‘Comrades-in-studio’. Still, for all its imperfection, an endearing artefact worth getting because it is meaningful music to recline in after a heavy night’s partying. And, in some strange way it feels like gentlemen’s music.

7.6/10