The Norwegian duo Kings of Convenience is back on stage to promote an unexpected fourth album. Sublime melodies, pristine arpeggios and vocal harmonies for a timeless folk piece to accompany a balmy summer evening.

After a more than ten-year recording hiatus, Kings of Convenience released their remarkable album Peace or Love last year, and it’s like the time had no meaning. Eirik Glambek Bøe and Erlend Øye met as children as part of a geography competition, and their music suggests a certain familiarity with Caetano Veloso’s Brazil or Simon and Garfunkel’s America, well-known zones where their personal and delicate songs come into their own. Kings of Convenience first appeared in 2001 with Quiet Is the New Loud, a miraculous album that oscillated between pop, folk and bossa nova. Its success marked the return of Europop to a more acoustic feel, following the domination of electric guitars and electronic music of the 1990s. The album had such an enormous impact that its name christened a movement of several groups of acoustic guitars and velvety voices. However, these other groups remained in the shadow of Kings of Convenience, whose melodies enchanted the 2000s and are brightening up this new age in sore need of cheer.

Opening act: Alban Claudin

The smooth fingers of pianist Alban Claudin share gentle, dreamlike melodies bound to bring a smile to faces in the audience. 

Released in 2021, It’s a Long Way to Happiness marks the long format début for French pianist and composer Alban Claudin, with a superb collection of beautifully melodic instrumental pieces reminiscent of the delicate fantasy of Yann Tiersen or the melancholic, midnight moods harnessed so tactfully by Vincent Delerm. For the thirty-year-old artist himself, though, his real début is already long behind him: from his keyboard accompaniments for Clara Luciani to his film music compositions and love of collaborations, Alban Claudin simply took his time with his own album. Taking advantage of a break between the many tours he has been involved in over the last five years, Alban Claudin perfected his piano repertoire and took inspiration from electro production effects to deftly decorate some of the tracks on his first, profoundly pop album.