Erlend Øye and Erik Glambek Bøe are back at it again, after a long hiatus, bringing us a new album, "Riot on an Empty Street." KOC are Gen X's response to Simon And Garfunkel, and the album is filled with an abundance of lush, unhurried, whispered folk classics, for friends and baby boomers (family members).
The album opens with "Homesick," a calm, refreshing, finger-picked folk track from the Norwegian duo. At first listen, you know they're bringing us back to the tranquil sounds of 2001’s acclaimed album, "Quiet Is the New Loud," continued. It's a departure from KOC's remix album "Versus," and Erlend Øye's endless electronic voyages. The two find themselves right where they left off, in a good way.
The first single, "Misread," has a kind of Vince Guaraldi (Peanuts) meets Simon and Garfunkel sound, with an upbeat groove on upright bass and viola and cellos swimming towards the tracks end.
The gentle "Cayman Islands" is a breathy duet. As they sing "Holding on to you on a bike we've hired until tomorrow," sparkling nylon strings twinkle about through the mix.
"Gold Air of Summer" is my favorite track off the album. It begins with some lightly strummed guitar and harmonized melancholic vocals; Eric singing the arpeggio and Erlend singing the lows against a deep bass played with a bow.
Broken Social Scene’s Feist guest sings a small angelic piece on the bossanova driven "Know How" and then she duets with Erlend on the album's closer "The Build-Up."
"Riot on an Empty Street," delivers a brilliant, long-awaited follow-up from this talented duo. I can’t wait to catch their next US live performance. |