Tag: pop folk

LISTEN: Jayme Stone, “Wreckage of the Fall”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Jayme Stone
Hometown: Longmont, Colorado
Song: “Wreckage of the Fall”
Release Date: November 10, 2023

In Their Words: “‘Wreckage of the Fall’ is a fever dream about transformation, mystical experience and emotional healing. I wrote it during a weeklong retreat at the Banff Center of the Arts. It emerged alongside a lot of tears, wild dreams, old wounds and a brief experience of clairvoyance. For a few days, I could see voices coming out my phone. I could feel the exact distance between me and other people in faraway cities like some kind of telepathic Google Earth. The song is full of witchy magic — runes, talismans, pentacles, and crystals. They started appearing and I just followed them.

“‘Wreckage’ is the first in a song cycle I’m currently calling ‘Anima,’ one the archetypes in Carl Jung’s map of the collective unconscious. I spent three years producing it — the longest I’ve ever worked on a track. There are many layers of guitar, my trusty Juno 106 from the late ’80s, an OB-6 synth and a lot of backup vocals care of Daniela Gesundheit. I programmed the drums in Abelton and then had John Hadfield play a real kit, which I then blended with the programming. The song feels like an MRI of my emotional state at the time. It’s some kind of magic to have a sonic postcard I can share now.” – Jayme Stone

Track Credits: Written by Jayme Stone.

Recorded and produced by Jayme Stone.
Mixed and mastered by David Travers-Smith.

Jayme Stone – voice, guitar, synth, drum programming
Emanuel Alexander – guitar, bass
Daniela Gesundheit – voice
John Hadfield – drums
Greg Harris – synth

Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez

‘Careful Of Your Keepers’ Is an Autobiographical Glimpse at This Is The Kit

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

It feels like the protests are following Kate Stables around. Mere weeks ago she was in Paris, the city where she lives, when it was brought to a halt by the May Day march against pension reform, which ended in violence on the streets between police and demonstrators. Then, she arrived in the UK just as it embarked on a week-long series of national strikes against low pay and poor working conditions.

Stables does not disapprove of the disruption. “People have to remember that this is how change happens,” says the 40-year-old behind the British alt-folk outfit This Is The Kit. Whatever inconvenience Stables may face as a touring musician who currently can’t get around by public transport, she says, only helps to make the point. “It’s more inconvenient not getting paid enough and not getting treated properly.”

Since Stables relocated to France 17 years ago, the difference in national attitudes towards civil disobedience has been an eyeopener. “The UK has got a bit comfy over the decades and taken things for granted, they assume the government will look after them. In France, the slightest threat, people hit the streets and protest.”

Stables’ skills as an observer of the human experience is the golden thread that runs through her songs for This Is The Kit. Her 2018 fourth album, Moonshine Freeze, earned her a nomination for a prestigious Ivor Novello songwriting award, and her follow-up, Off Off On, saw her break further into the mainstream as critics applauded its depth and complexity.

A rarely overt but nevertheless keen political awareness is ever-present. And while Stables describes her new release, Careful Of Your Keepers, as “slightly more personal” than her previous albums, she’s aware that this is more in the way people will experience the songs than the way she necessarily intended them.

Take the track “More Change,” which was released as a single in early June. It is accompanied by an utterly delightful animated video made by her talented family friend, Benjamin Jones, in which various inanimate objects from sneakers to pieces of fruit search yearningly for connection and meaning.

“It sounds like a relationship song,” admits Stables, “But it started off with me thinking about situations in society, and people trying to decide if those are better now than 100 years ago. It’s an impossible question – there’s so much that’s worse and so much that’s better. You have to choose which one gets you through the day.”

The lyrics on the opening track, “Goodbye Bite,” include the memorable image of a “‘How shit is this?’ measuring stick” – and the question of change becomes a recurrent theme throughout the album. “I’ve been thinking about how we deal with it, how we quantify it,” says Stables, who compiled the songs over the past two years. “We make decisions by comparing things against each other… and it’s all meaningless, because any decision is a decision! You’re following your nose and hoping for the best.”

And yet, to quote a famous French writer, plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. The hypnotic sound and elliptical lyrics that have won This Is The Kit its cult following fanbase remain their trademark and Careful of Your Keepers is a joyous example of the acoustic folk and clubby groove that Stables’ (stable) line-up has been blending over the past decade.

The opportunity to rehearse together for 10 days at a friend’s house in Cork, southern Ireland, proved the power of the band’s long-lasting relationships. “We all live in different places now, but it did us all such a lot of good to be there together, so far away from our other lives,” says Stables. “As the years go by we’ve got better at giving and taking criticism, and you’re able to communicate better which isn’t always the case, in bands or in life.”

She herself has gained a reputation as a musicians’ musician, a favorite of Elbow’s Guy Garvey, The National’s Aaron Dessner, and Gruff Rhys of the Super Furry Animals, who produced the latest album at her request. “I love his live shows, he’s so articulate and thoughtful. And in the studio he has just the right balance of sense of humour and total creative work ethic.” He also turns up in the “More Change” video, transmuted into a long-eared plasticine toy singing backing vocals.

Other influences on the album included punk-folkster Naima Bock, and Horse Lords (“the way they mess or play with rhythm and timing, it makes me so excited and alive”). At home in Paris, Stables has found creative community among a group of French and English artists that include Halo Maud, Mina Tindle, and Belvoir – a duo who, like her, hail originally from the west country of England, but now sing “really loud, super energy stuff” in their adopted French tongue. “Which is really nice, because the outside world doesn’t get exposed to enough non-Anglophone music.”

Stables herself found it slow-going to learn a new language, paralyzed by her fear of making mistakes or speaking with too English an accent. “I didn’t make any progress until I had my daughter,” she admits. “But after you’ve got over the shock of having a baby your inner punk wakes up and you don’t care what anyone thinks. So I got better quite quickly!”

She also found her new environment altered the way she made music. By her own admission, Stables is “quite a drone-y songwriter” by instinct– “I’ll have the same note all the way through,” she laughs. “But French songwriting has tons of chords in it. So now I try and write songs with more than two…”

One track from Careful Of Your Keepers offers an unusually autobiographical glimpse into her daily life. “This Is When The Sky Gets Big” was inspired by a favorite park near her home: “A rare place in the city where there’s loads of sky because there’s no immediate tall buildings.” “It’s not a classic Paris park of gravel and pollarded trees in rows,” She says. “You’re allowed on the grass which is pretty unusual.” The sight of people sharing food, playing card games or dominos – even those who live in the park, because they have no other home to go to – inspires one of the album’s most reflective tracks.

When we spoke, however, she was in Bristol, staying at the home of her friend and fellow musician Rachael Dadd ahead of a show at an open-air amphitheatre on the Cornish coast. Stables loves being on the road; her favourite touring destinations include Seattle, Hamburg, and Japan, a place she, Dadd, and her partner (the musician Jesse D Vernon) toured together in the very early days of the band. “I’d just moved to Paris at the time and I was in culture shock,” remembers Stables with a laugh. “So it was so good to be in a place where people were respectful and nice and said sorry and thank you as much as I did. I’d love to go back…”

There will just be time, before the main tour in support of the album kicks off, for a family wedding in Europe, where she and her twin sister will celebrate their birthday together. (Her two other siblings are also twins – they all spent a lot of their youth, she says, filling in questionnaires from research scientists). As someone with a teenage daughter of her own, the question of the future, and the legacy her generation will leave for the next one, is uppermost in her mind.

You can hear it in the final track of the album, “Dibs,” which ends with the apocalyptic thunder of washing machine drums and the line, “Since the beginning of time, man out of time.” Here is the real change that is coming: the music resonates with the sense of climate crisis without ever explicitly referencing it. “There’s no avoiding it,” agrees Stables. “It’s on everyone’s mind, it can’t help but dribble out into the songs we write, the worry. There’s no stopping the train.”

But as a lifelong fan of the science fiction author Ursula K Le Guin, she can, too, see a brighter future. “Her books are really reassuring, and Kim Stanley Robinson’s books have given me hope, too. Life does carry on. We’re currently living in absolute sci-fi conditions for people who were around 100 years ago. It would just be nice if we knew how to respect that, and carried on in a way that doesn’t create more suffering.”

Photo Credit: Cedric Oberlin

If You Love Boygenius, You’ll Love These 18 Folk Bands

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Can’t get enough of the record by boygenius? We understand and empathize. Did your ears perk up immediately when you heard the twinkle of the banjo on “Cool About It?” Do you rewatch the video of Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, and Phoebe Bridgers performing The Chicks’ “Cowboy, Take Me Away” over and over and over again? If so, this list is for you. 

It’s not hard to place boygenius within the universe of folk music and its endless variations, with their perfectly blended, nearly familial harmonies, their lyrics and song structures that are so singable, cyclical, and relatable, and the way, together, they exceed the sum of their individual parts by leaps and bound. Comparisons to other iconic supergroups – Dolly, Linda, and Emmylou’s Trio, or Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young – illustrate further that boygenius are often a string band and always a folk group. 

We’ve collected songs from 18 other folk groups that also center female and femme friendship, slippery harmonies, and egalitarian ensemble arrangements in their music. If you adore boygenius, these acoustic bands are for you. 

(Editor’s Note: Scroll for the playlist version of this collection.)

JOSEPH

The band JOSEPH’s latest release, The Sun, is perhaps their furthest foray into pop- and indie-folk, with a sound that’s not just adjacent to “the boys” of boygenius, but often parallels the genre and aesthetic territories explored by the latter trio. These songs are rich and fully realized, from the tender and contemplative to full-bore rock and roll. Remind you of anyone? 

Rainbow Girls

We’ve loved watching this California-based group grow and expand their listenership across the country and around the world, from the Bay Area to Cayamo and beyond. Like boygenius, Rainbow Girls have quite a few joyous, smile-inducing cover videos that are wildly popular on the internet, but the group really shines while singing sad, introspective songs that still make you feel so good. 

The Wailin’ Jennys

Since their first studio album in 2004, the Wailin’ Jennys have become one of the most beloved vocal trios in bluegrass, old-time, and folk music, with a robust, devoted international fan base. Perhaps best known for their appearances on public radio, the Juno Award-winning ensemble is in a phase of part-time, infrequent touring while balancing motherhood and solo projects, too. Their cover of “Wildflowers” remains one of the most popular BGS posts in the history of the site. 

The Chicks

An important addition to this list – the aforementioned “Cowboy, Take Me Away” cover by the boys notwithstanding – the similarities between the Chicks and boygenius are many. Righteous anger, agency, and collective rebellion, flouting gender roles, “tradition,” and industry norms – the list could go on and on. But perhaps the most striking throughline between both trios are their evident prowess as instrumentalists, whether guitar, fiddle, banjo, or voice. And there’s a tambour to Phoebe and Julien’s vocals that certainly conjures the crystalline, one of a kind singing of Natalie Maines. 

Mountain Man

What would boygenius be, together or separately, without longing? Without lost or waning or fading or burning or lustful or ethereal love? Love that’s sexual and romantic and hungry, but love that’s tender, platonic, and eternal, too. Mountain Man, who describe themselves as a “trio of devoted friends,” conjure all of the above within their catalog and certainly on “Baby Where You Are,” with a vocal arrangement that could have been pulled right from the record. 

Plains

Country-folk duo Plains, a duo made up of Katie Crutchfield (Waxahatchee) and Jess Williamson, could be described, in a boygenius-centric way, as sounding like that band dragged through… well, the plains. There’s an agnostic, informal country aesthetic here that sounds just like the prairie of which they sing on “Abilene.” And, their origin story matches the boys’, as well, with Crutchfield and Williamson first admiring each other’s music before joining forces. There are far worse impetuses to start a band than mutual admiration.

I’m With Her

Does the transitive property apply to trio supergroups? Because, if I’m With Her is a band of bona fide bluegrassers playing delicious indie-folk and folk-rock, then that makes boygenius, a delicious indie-folk and folk-rock band that much closer to being bluegrass, right? Right? Okay, it’s nonsense, but genre is dead. (Long live genre!) We love how our friends in I’m With Her, Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan, and Sara Watkins have colored outside the genre lines across their entire careers, not just in their collaborations together. Now, for a collaboration between I’m With Her and boygenius. Please.

 Trio 

While Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt collaborated on Trio and Trio II at the heights of their careers, boygenius came together as a supergroup when each of its members were on steep ascents, launching into the stratosphere. Somehow, as with Trio, the collective art boygenius has created supersedes even their heightening fame, not just as artists and musicians but as celebrities, too. These are just some of the reasons Trio comes to mind in the same train of musical thought as boygenius. Another is the “True Blue” friendships underpinning both groups.

case/lang/veirs

Our hearts, be still, because a few short days ago kd lang shared a photo on Instagram with Laura Veirs captioned: “Waiting on Mr. @nekocaseofficial to bring the love…” Whatever they’re working on, it will be must-listen and anxiously awaited! There are so many connection points between this incredible assemblage of musicians and the boys. Queerness; ethereal production; poetic lyrics; swapped lead vocals; oh-so-much text painting. If you’ve never given case/lang/veirs’ 2016 self-titled album an in-depth listen, there’s no better time. But the lead track, “Atomic Number” is an excellent audio swatch for the entire record.

Lula Wiles

Though on indefinite hiatus, Lula Wiles remains one of BGS’ favorite folk groups to emerge from the New England / northeast string band scene in the 2010s. Like boygenius, Isa Burke, Eleanor Buckland, and Mali Obamsawin each have vibrant and widely variable (while interconnected) solo careers, so despite their music making as a group being on pause, there’s a wealth of music in their combined and individual catalogs to binge your way through. We suggest starting with “Hometown,” a track that’s stuck with us since its release on What Will We Do in 2019. 

Lucius

One in the solidly pop/pop-rock category, Lucius still have dabbled often and intentionally in Americana, folk, and country, as demonstrated by this track from their latest album, Second Nature, which features their friend and tourmate Brandi Carlile and country star Sheryl Crow. It listens more similar to Phoebe Bridgers’ or Lucy Dacus’ genre aesthetics overall, but still calls on two roots musicians and vocalists, highlighting the mainstream success such cross pollinations attract.

Kate & Anna McGarrigle

Known for their iconic, self-titled 1975 album Kate & Anna McGarrigle, often referred to as the McGarrigles or the McGarrigle Sisters, epitomized the post-folk revival appetite for sincerity, authenticity, and literature in song, but their music never felt trope-ish, cheesy, or painfully earnest at the same time. Instead, its impact comes from its vulnerability and raw emotion, as in “Go Leave,” a song written by Kate for her unfaithful husband (Loudon Wainwright III). The lyrics drip with an indelible pain, reminding of Lucy, Julien, and Phoebe all, who for ours and hopefully their own benefit, often bare their entire souls in song.

Our Native Daughters

There’s a quality to boygenius’ music that reminds of church, of songs intentionally crafted for group singing and raising our voices up together. Perhaps it’s their bond as friends or their love of seamlessly blended harmonies and unisons, perhaps it’s their own histories with and upbringings in/around the church, perhaps it’s the relatability of their lyrics, but whatever it is their music begs to be joined. The same is true for Songs of Our Native Daughters, by roots music allstars Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, Amythyst Kiah, and Allison Russell. You can hear their voices twining not only in sound, but in message and mission, and listeners can’t help but feel the urge to sing along. Music by community and for community, that centers and celebrates the friendships of those creating it. 

The Secret Sisters

 The Secret Sisters have a penchant for the macabre, the spooky, the longest shadows and the darkest nights, often sung to a gritty minor key. They highlight the classic Southern Gothic aesthetics of their Alabama homeland with a groundedness and hair-raising realism. It’s not difficult to picture them, say, wearing rhinestoned skeleton suits. This collaboration with their friend and (sometimes) producer Brandi Carlile soars, highlighting the similarities between Laura Rogers’ and Lydia (Rogers) Slagle’s and Lucy Dacus’ voices. 

Larkin Poe

Now, from which folk and acoustic group can you get the rock and roll, shredding guitar solo, writhing on the ground, leaping into the crowd, pyrotechnic, Julien Baker-sprinting-across-the-stage, grand finale level energy for which boygenius is becoming known as they tour the record? It’s that caricature of a caricature of rockism that boygenius do so well. Look no further than blues duo Larkin Poe, made up of sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell (who, the diehard fans will remember, began their careers as a family bluegrass band). Every song on their albums or in their live sets is dialed to eleven on the face-melting meter. They skewer the performative masculinity of the genres they inhabit – just like boygenius – not by mocking, but by doing it better. And we love the genderfuckery and queerness they bring performing a lyric like “She’s a Self Made Man.” Again, just like boygenius.

The Roches

What could be more archetypically boygenius than exploring familial trauma? A gutting hook standalone, taken in this context sung by sisters Maggie, Terre, and Suzzy Roche, “Runs in the Family” is jaw-dropping. Another group lauded and adored for their releases in ‘70s and into the ‘80s. Their music runs in the family, too, with Lucy Wainwright Roche (daughter of Suzzy), who is an accomplished singer-songwriter. Keep Dacus’ “Thumbs” and the record’s “Without You Without Them” in mind as you listen.

The Burney Sisters

Fuzzy, full, and angry guitar is the sound bed for this, the title track from The Burney Sisters’ latest album, Then We’ll Talk. One of the hallmarks of boygenius’ generation of women and femme rockers is that their expressions of anger, justice, agency, and self advocacy feel real, not just like costuming for a genre that prides itself on counterculture and middle fingers literal and proverbial. When you hear women express anger in rock and roll, it doesn’t feel affected or constructed, and that’s one of the main reasons why women continue to lead – and revive – the genre.

Shook Twins

Part of the appeal of a group like boygenius, and Shook Twins as well, is the beauty in lyrics simply stating exactly what they mean. These songs are accessible, listenable, resonant, and thereby incredibly impactful. “Safe” by Portland, Oregon-based twin sisters Katelyn Shook and Laurie Shook is one of their most popular numbers – especially their acoustic version. The singer cries out to be seen, heard, and loved. A common refrain for Phoebe, Lucy, and Julien as well. 

Photo Credit: Matt Grubb

WATCH: Maja Francis & First Aid Kit, “Mama” (Satin Bed Session)

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Maja Francis
Hometown: Stockholm, Sweden
Song: “Mama”
Album: A Pink Soft Mess
Release Date: September 24, 2021
Label: RMV Grammofon

In Their Words: “This song is for my mom…and about how it feels to be grown up and be able to comfort her the way she’s always comforted me. We’ve both experienced mental health issues through life and not until I became an adult I understood her struggles, because I have the same ones. It’s been both beautiful and painful to share that with each other…and I wanted to write a song about that intense and complex love. I was also thrilled when my dear friends Klara and Johanna (First Aid Kit) wanted to feature on it. They’ve been such a big part in me finding my voice again so it felt really good to have their voices and energy on the album.” — Maja Francis

Photo credit: Milkdrop Studio

With an Acoustic Guitar in Hand, Joy Oladokun Sings “Judas”

Posted on by Editor

Joy Oladokun, a singer-songwriter based in Nashville, has had a long journey to get to where she is now. The daughter of Nigerian immigrants and the first of her family to be born in the US, Oladokun is fresh off the release of In Defense of My Own Happiness (Complete). The collection features 14 songs, as well as guest appearances by Maren Morris and Penny and Sparrow. The singer’s artistry comes from an incredibly unique experience of growing up as a young woman of color in rural Arizona and fostering her musicianship in the church before leaving the church and coming out of the closet. (Read the BGS interview.)

From Arizona to L.A. then across country to Nashville with a new outlook and perspective, Oladokun’s music stands on a plane with a unique vantage point. Her words are precise and delicate, mirroring her humble yet evocative instrumental style. Oladokun’s music has touched many ears and hearts, evidenced by the reward bestowed upon her by YouTube in 2021 when she received a grant from the #YouTubeBlackVoices fund. In this video release, Joy sings “Judas” off her latest album in the confined familiarity of a porch. She is able to do more with just an acoustic guitar and her voice than many artists can in an entire discography of work. Watch “Judas” performed live by Joy Oladokun below.

Photo credit: Nolan Knight

LISTEN: Cole Scheifele, “All The While”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Cole Scheifele
Hometown: Boulder, Colorado
Song: “All the While”
Album: The Hideaways
Single Release Date: July 22, 2021

In Their Words: “This song is about living in the present and chasing the things that invigorate you in life while you can. This record revolves around themes of feeling stuck by life and this song is about not letting life get in the way and just going and doing what your heart tells you to and watching it all fall into place as you go. This is one of the only songs I’ve ever written that really breaks open and gets big, and a little bit rock and roll and we made it that way on purpose. I wanted it to feel like that feeling of really cracking your heart open and letting go of all the things in life that weigh you down and just going for it.

“I had the first verse done for years and could never finish the song, but then one day I sat down during quarantine, and the last 2/3 of the song just sort of poured out of me. It’s interesting, it happened while I was furloughed and sitting in this seemingly stagnant state of being, where the world was entirely at a halt, this song about getting out and going for it just sort came out of me. It’s funny how it works out that way. I hope we captured some of that feeling.” — Cole Scheifele

Photo credit: Kate Petrik

LISTEN: Hush Kids, “Weatherman”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Hush Kids (Jill Andrews & Peter Groenwald)
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Weatherman”
Album: Weatherman EP
Release Date: September 24, 2021

In Their Words: “During the spring of 2020, when we were in lockdown, it rained, poured really, for days, maybe even weeks. My husband Jerred has lived most of his adult life in dry arid places and he wasn’t used to it. He would look outside almost every day, saddened by the dark sky and soggy earth. He would say, ‘This place just never stops. It’s like a rain forest.’ I always like to put a silver lining on things so my response was usually something like, ‘I guess that’s why it’s so green and beautiful here.’ But the sunless days can take their toll on the best of us, and I could tell that he was feeling down as the rainy days and tumultuous weather wore on.

“All of this was on my mind that day last spring when I got together with Ian [Fitchuk, the duo’s producer] and Peter to write for the next Hush Kids record. We sat on Ian’s back porch and caught up for a long time, enjoying being in each other’s presence so much because it had been a while since we’d last seen each other. This one came easily to us and I think we all cried a little when we were writing it. I’m so happy that we can share it with you guys today! I hope that your days are sunny even when the rain is pouring down.” — Jill Andrews

“This was the first song I had written in person for maybe eight months. We were on a porch, it felt kind of weird, but we trusted each other. Jill said she had an idea, and I believe she sang what is now the first line of the song. I tend to have a look on my face when I think something is amazing, and it actually looks like I’m disgusted… food, art, music… it’s more of a look of disbelief that something can be that good. That’s how I looked when Jill shared this idea with us.” — Peter Groenwald

Photo credit: Nathan Zucker

With Acoustic Authority, Kings of Convenience Bestow ‘Peace or Love’

Posted on by Editor

Two guys with acoustic guitars singing quietly — it’s not as easy as it looks. For the Norwegian acoustic duo Kings of Convenience, a lot of forethought went into the simplicity that shines through Peace or Love. Because it is sonically spacious, the album feels like a respite in an increasingly loud world. The comforting vocal blend, the lilting melodies, and concise songwriting are all wonderfully intact, carried over from their prior project a dozen years ago.

With impeccable rhythms and an eye for detail, the collection feels cozy and even encouraging at times. But upon listening closely to the lyrics, it’s clear that band members Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe are no strangers to conflict. Note the album title: It’s Peace or Love, without an “and” in sight.

Plus, there’s a rough imagery inherent in a title like “Rocky Trail,” the album’s sprightly lead single that finds the narrator admitting to missing the warning signs in a relationship and wishing for another chance.

“‘Rocky Trail’ represents a certain kind of groove that we do a lot, which is of course inspired by bossa nova,” says Øye, speaking on behalf of the duo for the first half of a Zoom interview with BGS. “It features Eirik’s trademark technique. He has a very specific technique of playing that allows him to be as quietly funky as he is. I think it is also quite layered, like onion shells. There are a lot of details in that song, so I think it rewards recurrent listening.”

For example, one can hear a propulsive rhythm in the verses, not unlike the one-foot-in-front-of-the-other mindset of a challenging hike, and then in the middle there’s a downward glissando that makes it feel like this relationship just tumbled back to square one. Or is that overanalyzing?

“Hmm, I wish I had thought of all that,” Øye says with a laugh. “Coincidence!”

While both musicians have a number of side projects, Kings of Convenience have always managed to come back around. Asked about finding common ground in the music they enjoy, Øye says, “Although we think of ourselves as very different, in reality being together all those years – although we didn’t always hang out together all the time – we influence each other a lot with all the music we’ve gone into.”

He continues, “Just as an example, when Eirik started coming around with these bossa nova ideas, that was already in the first year of us working more or less like Kings of Convenience in ’98. My first reaction was, ‘Oh noooo. What is this elevator music?’ But then, you know, that’s how you grow, by accepting something you have a preconceived notion of. I’m recently playing a lot with some Italian friends of mine and they are particularly inspired by Latin American music, in addition to Italian music. So, just following them, trying to pick up what they do, that’s how you get inspired – and I bring that into Kings of Convenience. Without knowing it, you inspire each other.”

When the topic turns to country music, Øye says he once read an interview with R.E.M.’s Peter Buck about playing country sessions and finding different ways of getting from G to F to C. “I remember thinking that’s interesting,” he says. “I do like this aspect of country music, basically trying to dig even more around an already very dug place, and not being afraid of that. OK, it’s not the first song in the world that goes F, C, G, but that’s not so important. I think that’s the one division in Kings of Convenience where we still disagree, that I’m more sympathetic to the country music side of making music, while Eirik is very into the idea that a chord progression should be unheard of.”

But will that ever get resolved?

“It doesn’t have to be resolved,” Øye concludes. “It’s part of our ongoing creative dynamic.”

That dynamic is much more complicated to capture in a studio than one might expect. Anything from the age of the guitar strings to the length of one’s fingernails can derail a session. That’s part of the reason Peace or Love was recorded over the span of five years and in five cities, almost always in person.

About to explain how they finally got the best version of “Rocky Trail” after many, many attempts, Glambek Bøe pops up in the Zoom call. After some cheerful greetings, Øye teases that “my main contribution to that song is the end part, with the guitar solo, and also my contribution is my incredible patience of recording the song so many times!”

Recreating the scene for comedic effect — “This is going to be the one, I promise you!!” — Øye graciously signs off, ushering Glambek Bøe into a conversation about the songwriting component of Peace or Love, specifically the encouraging messages nestled within some pretty sad songs.

“A lot of our songs are sad and they bring people in touch with their sorrow,” he says. “So I wanted to also give some uplifting words sometimes. I mean, once we’ve made people sad with our sad songs – when we have their attention – it’s a nice moment to give them a little pat on the back and a piece of advice. I like that type of songwriting, which is actually advice writing. You’re writing down advice for people. And for me, some artists have been giving me advice throughout my childhood and my young years, especially The The. I listened to him a lot as a teenager. He gives a lot of advice and I cherished that. It was important advice for me.”

One nugget of wisdom in “Love Is a Lonely Thing” is emblematic of the duo’s interplay. The lyric that suggests “It will seem a fair idea / If you make it their idea” was Øye’s idea, yet it’s a trick that Glambek Bøe admits to using in the band.

“It’s funny how it describes something I often do with him, because in our relationship, Erlend tends to disagree with whatever I bring to the table. He will automatically disagree, and then I will need to let time pass, so he will forget that it was my idea – and he will start thinking it was his idea. And basically any progress that we’ve done in the field of Kings of Convenience happened through that protest phase, the oblivion phase, and then then ‘thinking that it’s your idea’ phase. So, the lines were written by Erlend but they’re very descriptive in how I see our relationship in the band.”

The musician Feist joins “Love Is a Lonely Thing” and “Catholic Country” as a third voice, yet she also served as a cheerleader. “She is our favorite singer and we respect her very much as a songwriter and artist,” Glambek Bøe says. “She didn’t actually write any of these songs, but she was in the studio telling us these songs were great. And that was very important because at that time we were starting to lose hope that there was any quality in any of these things that had been recorded during five years.”

Asked about those underlying effects in “Rocky Trail,” Glambek Bøe listens with amusement to the theories, but ultimately agrees with Øye.

“We’re a lot more dumb than that,” he says with a laugh. “A lot of times when we do something great, it’s pure accident. But we’re able to recognize the art in our mistakes. I think that’s our main quality. We are not masters of our trade, but when we do say something in a beautiful way, we are capable of recognizing, ‘Wait, that was actually pretty good!’”

There’s an element of familiarity that comes into play, too, and it stretches back into the late ‘90s, when they connected as budding musicians in Bergen, Norway, and began to write songs together. Even now, there’s a mystery about why it still works, and Glambek Bøe says he is perfectly content with that.

“I don’t know exactly what his contribution is going to do to my playing, but something happens in that meeting, and none of us are in control of it,” he says. “Being together as songwriters, we stumble upon accidents more frequently, because I will write a verse and Erlend will write a second verse and he will misinterpret what my point was. But that misinterpretation brings out another quality in the song, and then I realize that makes it so much better.”

Photo Credits: Lead photo courtesy of Grandstand HQ; Inset photo by Salvo Alibrio

WATCH: Our Band, “Fading”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Our Band
Hometown: New York, New York
Song: “Fading”
Album: Bright as You
Release Date: June 25, 2021

In Their Words: “Our song ‘Fading’ was sparked by the sound of those first two chords against each other. There is a sweetness, coupled with a kind of foreboding feeling. Relationships have a kind of inevitable gravity to them, and this song deals with the moment where you take the plunge. You have to lose yourself a little, and it is mysterious and kind of frightening. Sasha and I tried to capture that moment musically, and the great nonagenarian Dean of American Folk Music, David Amram, is on flute. The sonority of the steel guitar, David’s flute, and a real vintage Mellotron tape-based sampler is one of my favorite textures on the album – a little vintage futurism, you could say.” — Justin Poindexter, Our Band

Photo credit: Gabriela Herman

WATCH: Lea Thomas, “Hummingbird”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Lea Thomas
Hometown: Born in Hawaii, based in Brooklyn
Song: “Hummingbird”
Release Date: May 26, 2021
Label: Spirit House Records

In Their Words: “‘Hummingbird’ was inspired by a dream I had in which I shape-shifted into a white wolf and ran like the wind across a mountainside, overwhelmed with the beauty and the interconnectedness of all life. I knew from the start that I wanted the song and the video to feel similarly ecstatic, like a celebration of life and a reminder of how psychedelic and magical everyday life can be. I’m especially in love with the way the horn and slide guitar duets turned out for that reason. This is the first record I’ve arranged for horns and that instrumental section still gets me so excited every time I hear it!” — Lea Thomas

Photo credit: Hannah Rosa Lewis Lopes