No Filler Music Podcast - Ep 07: Kings of Convenience - Riot On An Empty Street

Episode Date: March 4, 2018

On this week's episode, we take a look at our all-time favorite folk group Kings of Convenience, and we dive into their 2nd studio album "Riot On An Empty Street". Let these two gentlemen serenade you with the most beautiful harmonies & melodies...and when I say gentlemen I, of course, am talking about the Self brothers---boom! Got 'em. For more info, check out the shown notes: https://www.nofillerpodcast.com/episode/ep-7-kings-of-convenience-riot-on-an-empty-street Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Thank you for a very good welcome. We are Kingsel Convenience from Norway and we will prove it. And welcome to No Filler.

The music podcast. dedicated to sharing the often overlooked hidden gems that fill the space between the singles on our favorite records. In each episode, we'll dive into a little history of the artist and the album of choice, with snippets from interviews and concerts, as well as music from the album itself. On this week's episode, we're going to dive into Kings of Conveniences' second studio album, Riot on an Empty Street. my name's quentin i've got my brother Travis with me as always so so Q i'm expecting you to give me um give me credit today at some point for turning you on to this great group i am going to give you

credit Travis okay thank you let's let's paint the picture here our first intro to kings of convenience was actually in monterey mexico Probably what, like, 2004 or 2005, maybe? 2004, I believe. Okay. We were on a missionary trip with our church's youth group. We were down in Monterey, Mexico, building a church. And we were posted up in this fairly nice hotel in Monterey.

You weren't even my roommate, dude, for that trip. but I remember going over to your hotel room I remember we switched we turned on the TV and switched it over to like MTV Mexico whatever it was just MTV 2 okay and

what we switched over to MTV Mexico whatever man I think it was just the one that MTV 2 which which from what I remember just played nothing by music videos Okay. Yeah. And we saw a music video for a song called Miss Red, which is track two on this album by Kings of Convenience, one of the singles off of this album. And I liked it, dude. Like, I liked that song a lot. It's, it. It's... I think when you listen to the album as a whole, this is the more like uptempo song. You know what I mean? Right. It's, it's, yeah.

So, yeah, I remember liking that song. And then Travis, you got into this album and you got into this band before I did. And the reason being, so 2003, 2004, what were we? We were what, 16, 17? Yeah. Leading up to that time, historically, we were not listening to this kind of music. No. We were listening to rock, basically, right?

Yeah. And this kind of music just wasn't on our radar and it wasn't something that we were into because we were budding teenage boys, right? Well, this might be like the first, like, soft music that I really, like, clung to, you know what I mean? That I found a connection with. Man, and what a band to be introduced to this kind of music to, you know? Well, I feel like this, this subgenre of subgenre of, subgenre. of pop folk folk pop started to really get some attention and and really catch on around

2000 early 2000s like you know you had you know you let's just name like who comes to mind like you got band of horses fleet foxes even and you got bands like bell and sebastian who had actually been doing it for a while but and then like seawolf you remember them seawolf oh yeah and Matt Pompier. Yes. Like this was the time for that kind of softer indie pop folk type music, you know. Yeah, and there was even a, kind of like a phrase that caught on around that time. And Kings of Convenience, their first album, they named their album off of this phrase,

Quiet is the New Loud. That was kind of, I don't know where the phrase came from or anything, but that's kind of the whole thing. Like around this time, this kind of more soft kind of fulky pop music was kind of hitting the mainstream. Yeah. So, like, it was just the time for that kind of music. You know what I mean? And, yeah, and it took me a while to get to get into it. Like, I remember.

It's because you were, dude, you were, you were Mr. Emo back then. You know what I mean? Yes, I know what you mean. God damn it. Yeah, dude. That's what was going on. Yep, you're right. And you're like.

Are they screaming? No, I'm not... Yes. I had the parted bangs that went over one eyeball. You only had one exposed eyeball for at least a year and a half. Yep, yep, yep. I remember, Travis. Thank you. But what's funny is, okay, so we're twin brothers, right? And this was about the time where we wanted to be different.

So it's just funny that you were doing that. and I was kind of the flip the flip side of that coin and I was more like I don't know I mean I I would wear like the I went to like

Goodwill and bought like a blazer with a fucking patch on the on the elbows and stuff you know not because I was trying to be like you know Mr. Highbrow but you know I was

I think I think the strokes kind of turn me on to wearing blazers with skinny jeans right yeah me too man Yeah. I was all about that shit.

Yeah. But anyway, so I was listening to Kings of Convenience and, you know, Matt Pompey and stuff like that. And you were listening to, I don't know, Kane Hodder or something like that or... Don't. Don't you dare say that. You're right, but don't say it. Yes, and like under oath and all that shit. Right, exactly.

Yeah. But anyway. But I came around. I came around. Of course you did. Yeah. There's just something about these dudes. Hey, guess what we didn't do?

We're going to do it. Okay. So you know what I'm saying? You want to do right now? We'll do it right now. Yeah. Let's do our watch your hurts because we always get too damn excited and start talking about the band for the week before we dive into our watcher herds. I'm going to do mine first.

Let me do mine first, Treve. So I'm a huge fan of MPR music. I tend to really like most bands that NPR music features. They do these things called first listens where they will stream an entire album before it gets released. And let's see, a little over a week ago, they did a first listen on this folk artist who goes by Haley Hendrix. I think that's how you say it. There's an X in there somewhere. Her brand new album is called I Need to Start a Garden, and it's not released until March 2nd.

But you can stream the entire album on NPR music. It's beautiful, man. It's just, and I'm going to play the first song on the album. It's called No Face, and just right from the beginning, it just pulls you in. What I like about, so I've listened to it all the way through. it's a pretty short album for the amount of songs that are that's on there it's not too long um it starts out really just her vocals and her guitar and then farther into the album she starts to add in drums and you know other musicians and it goes from like this so her voice kind of reminds me

of feist which is great because we'll probably bring this up at some point feist has collaborated with Kings of Convenience. On this album, they do. Yeah. As it goes on, it gets a little heavier. She starts to remind me of Courtney Barnett, which is

one of my favorite. What? I don't know who that is either. Are you kidding me, dude? I ain't messing. You need to listen to some Courtney Barnett, man. I'll send you some links to some of her albums.

Man, she's fucking great. She's like an, I don't know, indie folk rock artist. really clever lyrics and and same here with Haley Hendricks really good lyrics just a really solid album all the way through she has one EP called Fish Eyes that was released a couple years ago so this is her first full-length album I'm not going to say much more to you

I'm just going to play it yeah man that's beautiful just like he said said like chilling dude chilling vocals yeah i love it dude that's good and really you really do need to listen to it all there through because like i said it starts to kind of pick up like midway through the album and she starts to add more musicians and drums and all that wow it's it's really great really great yeah i'm wondering how drums get get pulled into that yeah it's really cool the way that she I'm going to start this album off with just me and a guitar, and then each song's going to kind of build.

I'm going to bring more musicians into it. Yeah, it's just great, dude. You really need to listen to it. It's still just as intimate with the lyrics. Even with these other musicians that play a part later on in the album, it's still very intimate if you pay attention to the lyrics. It's very revealing, you know. Yeah, yeah.

It's great. Really good stuff. So again, that's Haley Hendricks' first full-length album. I need to start a garden, which is out on March 2nd. Travis, what you heard, brother? Okay, so this song is from a Danish ambient music trio called Future Three. This song in particular features another artist by the name of Binoe Puyler. I believe is how you pronounce it.

He's a, let's see, where is he from? Oh, well, you know what's funny, dude? His actual name is Thomas. What? Thomas Miluch. He goes by the name, Binoid Pular. He was born in the United States, man. Wow.

This guy's really, man, I figured. He really wants to be, that sounds French to me. Yeah, he was born in Michigan. Anyway, so his vocals is what you're hearing on the track. Q, you've actually heard him. You saw him open for Lossel. Was that right? That's correct.

I did see him open for Lossel. I think last year, yeah, it was great, dude, very ambient. At least his life performance was super ambient, almost noise tracks. Like the stuff that he did with his guitar. He didn't sing. at all during the performance. He was just fucking around with his guitar and he had a bunch of different

effects pedals that he fucked with. It was really cool, very captivating. So yeah, he's a multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter. He kind of, it sounds like he does a lot of field recordings and incorporates them into his music. You know, much like Lossel

or BBO or something like that, you know. So anyway, but I actually, my favorite part about this song is, is his, uh, his voice, like the way that he sings and this is very unique. And this song is just very like, I don't know, it's just a very, um, laid back, chill kind of song. But what, what makes it interesting is his voice, like I said. You don't often hear a vocal track like this on a, uh, ambient electronic song.

So anyway, uh, this. song is called, well shit, I can't exactly pronounce it because it's like M, M, M. N. So, mm, maybe. Mm.

Mm. But anyway, that's the name of the track. It's off of a Future 3 album called With and Without that came out in 2014 and it features benoit Pilar

on vocals. Let's hear it. You're right. There's something about it. It's different. So you know what's funny, man? I just now, while we were listening to this, remembered who this reminded me of. It sounds a lot like how Beck sang on Morning Phase. Hmm. Like Hard as a drum.

No, you're right, man. Yeah, I know what you mean. Same with on C-Change. Yeah. But yeah, so anyway, there's just something about that track, you know. Yeah, I like that a lot. And I think it's a good companion. Oh, man. There we go.

Hey, that's, we're twins. Here we go. Good companion for Kings of Convenience. So anyway. Let's get into it, man. It's time. Let's, okay. Let's do it.

Let's talk about these boys. Who are these folks? So Kings of Convenience. Two dudes from Norway, Ireland, Oya, and Iric Glembeck Bo. Now that's my best pronunciation of his name. This is the worst episode. for having to pronounce names correctly. I'm not going to, let's refer to him as Eric, okay?

Not Iric. Because there's different ways to pronounce his name. Eric and Ireland. They kind of joke about that because there's so many different dialects in Norway. So, yeah, Erland and Eric from Norway, both born in 1975, so they're roughly the same age. They've known each other for a long time. They met back at age 10. They attended different schools, but they,

They both entered a geography contest that was going on between their schools in Norway. And actually, we've got a clip. Let's just play it. They'll kind of explain kind of how they met and all that good stuff. Let's hear it, brother. Let's move on any further. Let's talk, first of all, about how you two guys first got together. You guys have known each other quite some time, right?

Yes, we've known others since we were 10 years old. We actually met in a geography contest. Okay, you've got to tell me about the geography contest. We were going to different schools, but we were both kind of the bright lights of our classes. And we're very good in remembering capitals of the world. So we enter in this geographic contest between the schools in Berger, Norway. And we were both in the last group of people who were in this contest. So that's the final.

The finals of this geography schools contest. Did either of you win? I actually won. for my ability to draw a world map. So they were the brainiacs of their classes. Yeah. If I tried to draw a map, like a world map at age 10, it would be pathetic. I couldn't do it right now, man.

Oh, I could do it right now to save my life. You kidding me? Yeah, exactly. I think that's just the American school system, dude. Oh, is that we're going to get into that now? No, you're right. sandman yeah so they met up again in junior high they actually were in the same class um they were around 16 years old and then they became friends through a similar interest in playing guitar they're like

hey i play guitar too let's become friends and at age 20 they were in a band together called scog that didn't last very long. Nothing special really came out of that. We won't really get into that. A few years later, so we're talking like probably late 90s, early 2000s, they decided to just ditch the other band members and just stay together as a duo

and kind of start playing more pretty, like, fulky stuff. And actually, I've got another clip. from the same interview that we played earlier. It talks about, I mean, they first started playing music together and kind of what led to Kings of Convenience. So when you say you first met when you were 10 years old, when did you first start making music together? And how did that come about?

When we were 16, we were both in the same class in what you call college high school. I don't know what you call it. Junior high school. And I had just bought a guitar, and Erlen had just bought a guitar. and that was a reason for us to start hanging out together. It was like, hey, weren't you a guy from that geography contest?

Yeah, that was me. What you do it now? Play guitar. Oh, I just bought a guitar too. Let's meet. And then we started making not so sweet music in the beginning. It took some time before it became sweet. It was basically the same thing as we're doing now, two guitars. Well, I actually didn't sing.

Yeah, I did sing at first. I kind of left... You got self-conscious? Yeah, and I let Erland do the singing for a few years. And then, I mean, we started a rock band, and Erlund was the lead singer of the rock band. And then a few years later, I discovered that, hey, I can also sing. And that's when we started our harmonizing. All right.

Let's start talking about their harmonizing, dude. It's a thing of beauty. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of like, you know, we, we, talked about Crosby Stills and Nash last week. And, you know, there's that interview clip from Graham Nash when he was talking about how when their voices came together, you know, just there was nothing like it. You know what I mean? There's just, yeah.

They knew from that moment on that they were going to be singing together because they knew how special and unique their voices sounded together. So I feel like with these two guys, it's kind of the same thing, man. I mean, there's just something about their voices when they come together. So, you know, we can just play the first track, dude, if you want to. Yeah, let's do that, man. Because, I mean, let's hear it, dude. Yeah, let's, and this track in particular is actually a perfect example of what these guys do really well,

because it's just their guitars and their voices. So track one on the album is called Homestick, and that's going to be our first clip from this album. So we've got a couple clips from this. Here's the first one, and I imagine it's just the beginning of the song, right, Treve? Correct. Cool. Some sales and my boss won't be happy, but I can't stop listening to the sound of two. Soft voices

Bended in perfection From the reels of this record That I found As to me, what are you doing? I love that song. So there they are. I love it, man. So something that I really wanted to

kind of hone in on is that opening line about So I'm just going to read the lyrics here. It says, I'll lose some sales and my boss won't be happy, but I can't stop listening to the sound of two soft voices blended in perfection from the reels of this record that I found. So I can speculate that they're talking about

Simon and Garfunkel maybe. I think the same thing, dude. Something like that. Yeah, I mean, but the funny thing is... It's almost like a nod. It's almost like a nod to... Dude, it's got to be Simon and Garfunkel, man. but the funny thing is like they are talking about themselves in a way yeah i mean

that's not what they're doing but what i'm saying is like the funny thing is they are two soft voices blended in perfection right which makes me that's what makes me think they are talking about a simon and garfunkel record because yeah and uh so i was listening to some interviews of them and one of the one of the interviews straight up asked them like point blank hey there's this cliche that gets thrown around that you guys are the modern day simon and garfunkel uh how do you respond to that and you know they said yeah you know the um you know the comparisons are obvious you know is essentially what they said but so so maybe you know after their first record came out maybe that was you know thrown it thrown around

that comparison and so like on the opening track of of their next album they just you know, like you said, they just nod to it right off the bat, you know. Yeah. Yeah, dude. But, but, you know, just the, the idea of that, that this person is so enamored with this record that he's listening to that, that his, you know, his sales are going to suffer at work, you know. His boss is not going to be happy with his sales because he's just so, like, intrigued by this record that he's been listening to. He's kind of daydreaming. Yeah. What song was it that we played last week for Crosby Stills and Nash that was singing about the 9 to 5, the Daily Grind?

Yeah. Man, what was that called? Was it you don't have to cry? Yes. Yes. Yes. It was you don't have to cry. Okay.

Yeah. It's weird because this song is very similar to that. Like the second line after after after what you read, every day there's a boy in the mirror asking me, What are you doing here? Finding all my previous motives growing increasingly unclear. That's almost the same kind of crisis that you have when you reach a certain age. Like, what the fuck am I doing with my life? Like, all my childhood dreams are just gone.

Like, I'm just, I've got a boss that's unhappy with my sales. Like, what the fuck, you know? Like, midlife crisis kind of thing. Yeah, and then, so let's play the next clip. because there's a lyric coming up that I want to address, but we'll let them sing it first. And I think the next clip just plays the song out, basically. So I lose some sales and my bars won't be happy,

but there's only one thing on my mind. Searching boxes underneath the counter on a chance. that on the tape I'd find a song for someone who needs somewhere to long for because I'm a long lyrics dude at the end I love that so much I know so yeah let's just read it again so basically they go back to the the opening lyric and they say so I'll lose some sales and my boss won't be happy they say that again but this time they're saying there's only one thing on my mind searching boxes underneath the counter on a chance that on a tape I'd find a song for someone

who needs somewhere to long for homesick because I no longer know where home is that's what gets me right there those lines dude because when you think of like the the phrase or the the word homesick if you're homesick you're homesick for home like you're homesick for a certain place but he's saying i'm homesick because i no longer know where home is that's just so he doesn't get to me so there's no he's he is he is long yeah he's longing for a home yeah he's homesick for for for anything that resembles like uh some somewhere to to rest your head you know but what's interesting is that he's implying that that that that he finds home in this music.

In music, yeah. Because he's saying that he's searching in these crates for a tape to find a song for someone who needs somewhere to long for. God, so good, man. It's gorgeous, man. Yeah, but, and so, okay, now let's talk about the guitar. Beautiful. Because I think just as perfect as their voices are together,

these two guys play guitar perfectly, like their guitar harmonies are perfect. I feel like their guitar harmonies are some of the best. I mean, really. It's funny, dude. Actually, I've got a quote here from Acoustic Guitar Magazine, an interview they did back in December of 2014. Wait, not 2014. I wrote that wrong. December of 2004. So the same year that this album came out. Basically, the question was, what guitarist do you guys play? And I think it was Ireland. He says, the problem that we've had all of our lives is that we've never had anyone our age who we can ask for advice. The only person we can ask is Nick Drake.

He's dead. Simon and Garfunkel, their manager probably won't let us talk to them. All these artists from the 60s could probably help us get the sound that we want. but when we want to record ourselves there's no one there so I mean look they don't need help you know what I'm saying

right I think I think obviously they're they're nodding to their influences right there per you know right Nick Drake another perfect example of like the king of guitar like finger picking on a guitar and like interesting tuning of guitar and stuff like that

but not to mention yeah and you have to mention And his voice, too. I mean, Nick Creeks' voice is just unmatched, you know what I mean? I also just read somewhere, I can't tell you off the top of my head where he was from, but Erland had like a handful of guitar lessons, like maybe five or so when he was young. Other than that, both of them are self-taught. So that is also pretty goddamn impressive. Yeah, that's really impressive.

And that might add to the uniqueness of their guitar play. because, you know, if you're structurally taught or whatever, you might not necessarily have these unique, you know, thoughtful guitar lines. I mean, that's impressive as hell, dude, because I can tell you right now, from experience as a guitar player, anyone can pick up and, you know, learn some power chords and learn a blue scale or something like that and kind of, you know, jam with that for a while. but these melodies, these like jazz patterns, I guess. Because, I mean, they're not doing jazz jazz, but I mean, their music is jazz influence

sometimes. Like, for sure. There's some, there's some samba. Did I say that right this time, Q? You did. You did. Good on me. Bossa Nova.

That kind of stuff. Samba. Jazz in particular is one of the hardest. genres to master styles. Oh, it doesn't matter what instrument you play, dude. Exactly,

jazz drums, get out of here with that, man. It makes me feel so like inferior as a drummer. Right. Yeah, so the fact that they are self-taught

and they're able to put these melodies together is super impressive. One more thing I wanted to say about this track, or at least about the lighter notes in the record.

I thought this was kind of funny. At the end of each track, so on the back, they've got the lyrics, and at the end they have all the personnel, basically. So this is only them too on this particular track, but it says high voice and nylon string guitar is Iric. Low voice and electric guitar is Ireland. I just thought that was funny that they wanted to point out who's singing the low and high parts.

Who's high and who's low? Yeah, instead of just saying vocals from Eric and Ireland. But, yeah, so that's an acoustic and an electric guitar, you know, a very clean jazz electric guitar tone and then the acoustic guitar. Yeah, I want to say real quick here, one difference, like if you dive into these guys a little bit, if you listen to their first album, Quiet is the New Loud, which came out in what, 2000? No, 2001 maybe. No, 2000. It's even softer than this album. There's drums in it, but most of it's mainly acoustic.

songs. But I'm looking at the personnel. Even on this album, they're the only two players that drum on this album, which is pretty fucking cool. Erland and Iric are the only two that are actually behind a kit. Besides, it says in the notes here, additional symbols. This other guy, Peter Kate's additional symbols and a high hat. But otherwise, it's just Erland and Eric that provide the drum. on these songs. That's pretty cool. Yeah, that is cool. So let's play our second track, which actually does have some drums in it.

It's track six on the album. It's called Sorry or Please. A lot of great stuff happening in this track. Yeah. Just everything about it. Yeah, just lovely. Yeah, I know. I don't know where to begin because I'm just not on their level, dude. You know? We're not worthy, dude. We're not worthy. Yeah, right.

But yeah. Okay, so let's talk about those live videos that we saw of them playing in, I don't remember where they were playing. It was, you're talking about in Seoul, Korea? Okay, they were playing in Seoul, Korea. That was before the release of Declaration of Dependence, which came out in 2009, their third full-length album. Yeah, so this was our only way to hear new music from Kings of Convenience, basically.

And I remember what was so, what I liked so much about it was, when they brought that dude on stage with the, uh, with the, uh, with the viola. Yeah. You know,

so they always find a way to bring in these, the, you know, like a, uh, a trumpet, you know, or a viola or like this,

this dude's upright bass, you know, it's just, yeah, there's something special about that performance, dude. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Like, the audience was just so, into it, like, just everything about it was, yeah. So,

you know, when they talk about, forming and deciding to be an acoustic duo you know they talked about hey we're the kings of convenience you know it's just two two guys two guitars we can go anywhere you know that was kind of their whole thing but along the way and and with every even the first album they are creative enough and smart enough to know when to bring in all these other great instruments man that really add a lot to the tracks you know yeah that's that's a good way to think about it. Like, they're smart enough to know exactly what to bring, but they never

overcrowded, you know? Yeah. It's like they only bring what is absolutely necessary to make just a beautiful song. Yeah, they know when to collaborate with like the right people, you know? And speaking of collaborations, uh, I think we mentioned this earlier, but Feist shows up on this album twice. So, you know, talk about knowing when to collaborate with someone like, Feist. provides such a great touch to the two tracks that she sings on, one of which will play, which is the one will play after this track. But we have one more clip from Sorry or Please. And what's interesting about this clip is that you're going to hear a banjo.

Ireland plays a banjo at the end of this song, which, again, it's like a banjo. You know what I mean? You're on a different level when you... Yeah, right. At one point he was like, all right, I got to have a... I got to have a banjo for this last part here. It's banjo time. That's what I'm saying.

Like, you're on a different level when you hear a song and say a banjo is really going to help this. And it does. Like, it's perfect. You know what I mean? It really makes it that much more interesting of a song when the banjo comes in. Because it comes out of nowhere and it just sounds delightful. So anyway, let's hear that banjo cue. I rely on my own eyes to see

But right now they make no sense to me Right now you make no sense to me I just want to read these lyrics real quick dude Because this is one of those lines from this album That has always stuck with me And there's a lot of lyrics Throughout this album that have stuck with me Through these years, like resonates with me

He says I don't normally beg for assistance. I rely on my own eyes to see, but right now they make no sense to me. And then he says, right now, you make no sense to me. That's just such a good line, dude. It's, it's so good. They've always, they've always had really interesting lyrics, man. I mean, really, just to add to their, to everything about them that makes them so great, it's like, the lyrics are always interesting, you know, always. I love it, man. There's a really interesting quote about the lyrics from Iric or Eric.

He says that the lyrics are quite personal, but as we're singing in the language that's not our native language, it's different. If I were English, I think the lyrics were revealing too much about myself, but as it's not my own language, I don't think I am. Wow. That's interesting. It's almost like they feel like they can get more personal because it's not their language. language that they're writing these lyrics in because the lyrics take on a different meaning than perhaps how they would have written it if they wrote it in their native tongue. That's cool. So that was taken from a 2000 interview from a publication called Audio Street.

So that was before they wrote this album, but nonetheless they're talking about their lyrics, you know, and certainly on their first album, a lot of their lyrics were like, about heartbreak, you know, it's a lot about heartbreak and missed opportunities with his love life and stuff like that. Yeah, well, I'll quote Aaron one more time here. The reason I make this music is because I always want to hear more of it. It's the music that makes me feel very peaceful and speaks to me more than other music. He says, of course, it's a bit sad, but it's what I think is beautiful. You need music that you can relate to at any time, whatever mood you're in. Yeah, I mean, that's a great way to put it. And, you know, there's not a lot of music out there that

sounds like this right now, you know? Of course, there were a lot of bands that did the folk pop thing back in the early 2000s, but they're just on a whole different plane. You know what I mean? Right. Yeah. Let's go ahead and get into our last pick for, for this album. So this song is called The Build Up. And it is very quiet, slow, and dark at first. And then the second clip, you'll get to hear Feist. And she does something very interesting with the song. So we'll just leave it at that. But let's play the first clip to kind of get a feel. Lasted for we lasted too long. He rode not choose one.

So, again, very slow. I'm trying to analyze these lyrics. I figure out if this is a, is it a metaphor for the song? Are they talking about the buildup to this next part that's about to happen? I don't think so, man. Probably not, but you know how these two guys

can be kind of, they have a very dry sense of humor. And they're very, they're very funny guys. When you watch concert videos of them, how they interact with each other. Yeah, they goof around a lot, which is another reason I like him so much. Yeah, but anyway, here are the lyrics, because, again, the lyrics are always really compelling. It says that the buildup lasted for days, lasted for weeks, lasted too long. Our hero withdrew when they were. was two. He could not choose one so there was none. Worn into the vaguely announced. I don't know what he's talking about, dude. I really don't. But I mean, do you have any idea?

All I can think about is that there's this tension that's lasting for too long. And then when it actually builds up to this moment, it was like underwhelming. That's all I can think of. I mean, because like... But then the next part, when Feist comes in, her lyrics, I think there's something really like poetic and moving about the lyrics in this next part. But yeah, let's... Yeah, let's do it. So here's when Feist comes in.

And that's how the record ends. So that's, there's a line, she's repeating this line over and over again. She's saying, the spinning top made a sound. like a train across the valley fading oh so quiet but constant till it passed over the ridge into the distances written on your ticket to remind you where to stop and where to get off there's a lot of metaphors going on here so this person's on a train perhaps you know and he's lost in this thought you know and he has to be reminded when to get off based on the, you know, the distance is written on the ticket to remind him where to stop and get off because he's just, you know, he's lost in this thought. Yeah.

My favorite part about her contribution to this song is how, so she sings these lines, I think, three times through. Yeah. Every time she sings it, she'll emphasize these, the syllables a little bit differently. Like so every time you hear it, it's, it's just slightly different. And I think it's really cool that she decided to kind of sing it slightly differently each time to kind of keep you interested. Really pretty. Really pretty. Yeah.

And, you know, there is a reason that you repeat something through times. And like you said, that it's sung slightly differently each time. Is there some sort of meaning behind that? You know, is there some sort of meaning behind the repetition of it? and like that it's different every time, you know? Right, and that's one of those things where, like, I can't think of like the example, but there's a sentence that when you read it,

and if you emphasize syllables or emphasize words differently, every time you read that sentence, the meaning changes depending on how you say it. Or where the comma is, you know? Right, exactly. Yeah, really cool. I think it's cool that the last person that you hear on this album is Feist. It's not Erland or Eric.

It's Feist. Yeah, and it's worth noting that I think I said that it was both Eric and Ireland singing on this track, but it's mostly Ireland. He's the singer in the first part of the song. Ireland provides just some slight harmony, but this is mainly a song, a duo between Ireland and Feist, really. Ireland is doing the drums and the guitar and vocals and then and then Feist is singing at the end but yeah again it's just a perfect collaboration I love it man

yeah so that's our take on Kings of Convenience and their second studio album Riot on an empty street which came out in 2004 yeah if you have never heard Kings of Convenience before go and listen to this album all the way through because there are so many interesting things that happen throughout the album. I think this is a good album for a starting point too

because it's a little bit, it's a little more approachable than their first album. I think the production value is higher too. I think the recording itself is just better. This is one of those records that you can put on if you have a turntable and a good set of speakers. Like this is one of those albums that you put on, you know?

it just sound that the guitar just sounds so rich coming coming through this album so get yourself a good set of headphones or a good set of speakers to listen to this album because it's worth it yeah so that should do it for this week and uh check back midweek for our sidetrack episode for kings of convenience we're not 100% sure yet on uh what we're going to cover we've got a few ideas. But check back about Tuesday or Wednesday this week and we'll have our sidetrack episode up. Check us out on SoundCloud. You can stream us on there. You can check us out

on iTunes or any other podcast app. We also have a beautiful website made by yours truly, Travis. Stop it. My brother. No-fillerpodcast.com. There you can check out our show notes where you know, we'll post articles and links to videos and whatnot. Anything, anything that we referenced in an episode, we try our best to kind of provide more information for you on our website.

And, uh, Trabb, do you want to cover the outro artists for this week? Yeah, so, um, I believe it was Eric that said, uh, Red House Painter was a group that he was really into. I think it was somebody in the audience at some concert video that I watched, just yelled out a question like, who's your favorite band right now or something like that? And he said, Red House Painter. It's Red House Painters.

Red House Painters. This is one band that they agree on as both Erland and Eric's favorite band, Red House Painters. They started in 1988. And it's funny if you, on their Wikipedia page, genres that they're that they're listed under folk rock indie rock slow core never heard that before of you slow core slow core it fits man they are very subdued yeah they're almost kind of a shoe gaze kind of band a little bit yeah you can definitely see how how how this band was a huge influence

and uh you know one of their one of their favorites um the song that we're going to close out this episode with is called Katie Song and it came out on their self-titled album. They came out in 1993 called Red House Painters because that's what self-titled means. It's track three on the album. Again, it's called Katie Song and yeah, we'll just close out this episode with that song. Again, check back midweek for our sidetrack episode. All right, my name's Quentin. My name is Travis.

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