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Morgenbladet Topp 100 #27
Kings of Convenience: Quiet Is the New Loud
The Norwegian duo Kings of Convenience released their album Quiet Is the New Loud in 2001.
They immediately left their mark. Two voices, two guitars, the soft harmonies and the "quiet" weighed anchor and set off on a voyage powered by the album's 12 songs. In this book we visit London, Liverpool, Manchester and their home town of Bergen in order to delve deeper into the thoughts and processes behind the songs, the album title, the design and the photographs which have contributed to Quiet Is the New Loud's longevity. The book also provides an insight into the disagreements between the two members of Kings of Convenience, their friendship and the brutal honesty that has helped keep the band alive fourteen years after the release of their debut album.
Ørjan Nilsson (b. 1981) is a journalist and a writer.
This is his first book.
They immediately left their mark. Two voices, two guitars, the soft harmonies and the "quiet" weighed anchor and set off on a voyage powered by the album's 12 songs. In this book we visit London, Liverpool, Manchester and their home town of Bergen in order to delve deeper into the thoughts and processes behind the songs, the album title, the design and the photographs which have contributed to Quiet Is the New Loud's longevity. The book also provides an insight into the disagreements between the two members of Kings of Convenience, their friendship and the brutal honesty that has helped keep the band alive fourteen years after the release of their debut album.
Ørjan Nilsson (b. 1981) is a journalist and a writer.
This is his first book.
- GenresMusicNonfiction
111 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
6 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
Ørjan Nilsson
3 books3 followersØrjan Nilsson (f. 1981) er kulturjournalist og forfatter. Han debuterte i 2014 med boken om Kings of Conveniences Quiet Is the New Loud. I 2017 ga han ut Tårer fra en stein - Samtaler om et arbeid, om Pål Waaktaar Savoys kunstnerskap.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 31, 2015
Some interesting comments and details, including how miserable the band felt about using strings and about the whole recording of the album. Also there was a version of Surprise Ice recorded for Quiet but never released. I want to hear it!
But I'm not particularly impressed by the way the book has been written, however. The writer has a habit of leading up to a topic, then has one of the people involved say one or two sentences about it, and then move on to the next bit while I'm left craving for more details. The build-up doesn't always pay off. And then sometimes he stays focused on a minor detail that isn't that interesting at all in the grand scheme of things, like describing a scene from a movie where a song was used, apparently just for the reason that it was a weird scene. Or writing about songs with the word 'rain' in them, because the song 'Failure' has that too...
I was expecting a more analytical / fact-densed work (if that is a word), but the book is more like a personal essay on Quiet Is The New Loud, albeit one that is enhanced by interviews with most parties involved. I had to get used to that, in the beginning it felt like the writer was holding back on talking about the actual album. Right now, I think he just worked with the input he was able to uncover. Additional interviews and analysis would have improved the book immensely. I mean, there's a section on bonus tracks while other tracks from the album aren't even mentioned. And most of those bonus tracks are covers! If you talk about two songs being part of one song, I'd like to ask the band why they cut them up in the first place. Now I've finished it, I'm left feeling it could have been so much more.
Still, there's some really good stuff in there (including an interview with a guy who made a Quiet Is The New Loud EP before the album was released and who absolutely hates the band). That was good stuff!
If this all sounds rather negative, it's not necessarily meant that way, it's just different than I expected. I enjoy reading about one of my favourite albums of all time a lot, although don't go into it expecting it to be the definite book about this release. It paints an incomplete and somewhat flawed picture of QITNL and the band. It's a very personal book as well, clearly, and that is probably for the best since the writer clearly didn't have the means to write a more complete work.
(Please note: I read the English version of this book, and there's a printing mistake on page 95 - where the chapter ends in the middle of a sentence).
But I'm not particularly impressed by the way the book has been written, however. The writer has a habit of leading up to a topic, then has one of the people involved say one or two sentences about it, and then move on to the next bit while I'm left craving for more details. The build-up doesn't always pay off. And then sometimes he stays focused on a minor detail that isn't that interesting at all in the grand scheme of things, like describing a scene from a movie where a song was used, apparently just for the reason that it was a weird scene. Or writing about songs with the word 'rain' in them, because the song 'Failure' has that too...
I was expecting a more analytical / fact-densed work (if that is a word), but the book is more like a personal essay on Quiet Is The New Loud, albeit one that is enhanced by interviews with most parties involved. I had to get used to that, in the beginning it felt like the writer was holding back on talking about the actual album. Right now, I think he just worked with the input he was able to uncover. Additional interviews and analysis would have improved the book immensely. I mean, there's a section on bonus tracks while other tracks from the album aren't even mentioned. And most of those bonus tracks are covers! If you talk about two songs being part of one song, I'd like to ask the band why they cut them up in the first place. Now I've finished it, I'm left feeling it could have been so much more.
Still, there's some really good stuff in there (including an interview with a guy who made a Quiet Is The New Loud EP before the album was released and who absolutely hates the band). That was good stuff!
If this all sounds rather negative, it's not necessarily meant that way, it's just different than I expected. I enjoy reading about one of my favourite albums of all time a lot, although don't go into it expecting it to be the definite book about this release. It paints an incomplete and somewhat flawed picture of QITNL and the band. It's a very personal book as well, clearly, and that is probably for the best since the writer clearly didn't have the means to write a more complete work.
(Please note: I read the English version of this book, and there's a printing mistake on page 95 - where the chapter ends in the middle of a sentence).
March 14, 2021
To be honest, I found it quiet a disappointment. I get that the band is not that famous to have a big biography written about them, but being a big fan of the kings, I am sure there was a lot more information than that the writer used, having read it myself. The interviews seem to have been too short or not good, for what it ended on the book, but then If all those people accepted to be part of it, he should have taken advantage and try to get more on the actual experience of recording the album, doing the art, where the songs came from, how the idea of it started forming.... there were parts where the author started talking about his band (that seemingly had the same musical roots of Kings of convenience) that seemed so forced to me, like it was obvious the intention to include himself in the narrative but with no success. There were a couple of things that were not that known and therefore interesting (the back story of “Parallel Lines”, something I have been always curious about as it is one of muy favorite songs, for example), but I find this to be an essay more about the author’s own experience around the time the album came out but the album itself.
November 4, 2017
Absolutely loved this! Would have loved it even more if there was a bit more depth in some parts. But it was made up by the interviews given at the concerts in 2015 i have attended in Gent and Utrecht a part of the KoC Quiet Is The New Loud Tour.
Man. I love these guys. Their music and their personalities are legendary.
Man. I love these guys. Their music and their personalities are legendary.
June 23, 2023
Je zou denken dat dit boekje over Kings of Convenience en Quiet is the New Loud gaat, maar soms gaat het ook over andere albums (yes!), bijvoorbeeld van Paul McCartney (hè?). Af en toe nieuwe achtergrondinformatie, zoals over het artwork of over de opnamesessies, dus dat was tof. Maar verder laat het te wensen over: elke zin uit elk interview dat de auteur heeft gehouden, hoe oninteressant ook, lijkt gebruikt te zijn, waardoor je toch wat op je honger blijft zitten.
February 22, 2025
A few errors in the English version can be found throughout, not a big deal. Read it in a few hours, but then spent more time looking for the musical/geographical references of obscure bands and places on YT.
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May 1, 2015Nice to keep in touch with the guys.
April 22, 2024
Enjoyed reading the back story to the kings of convenience album quiet is the new loud and finding out the places they had visited and that added to the album’s development
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews