Erlend Øye

Erlend Otre Øye (born 21 November 1975) is a Norwegian composer, musician, producer, singer and songwriter from Bergen, best known for being one half of the indie folk duo Kings of Convenience, along with Eirik Glambek Bøe. Among other musical projects he is front-man for the band The Whitest Boy Alive, and has contributed to tracks by electronic music artists such as Dntel and Norwegian duo Röyksopp. He is also the co-founder of the independent label Bubbles Records. Since 2012 he has lived in Sicily and played extensively with trio La Comitiva.

In addition to his native Norwegian, he also speaks English and some Italian.

Biography

Bergen Erlend Øye was born on 21 November 1975 in Bergen, his parents met in 1974 in a demonstration in support of the victims of the 1973 Chilean coup d'état against Salvador Allende that took place in Bergen, at which time his father read a poem, which allowed him to meet Øye's mother. Having grown up listening to Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, Suzanne Vega and The Smiths, during high school in the early-mid 1990s, he and some of his friends formed the band Skog ("forest" in Norwegian), taking inspiration from the famous song "A Forest" by The Cure. In 1996 he joined the band Peachfuzz as electric guitarist, playing several times in London between 1996 and 1998.

In 1998 he started to collaborate on a project with Mikal Telle of Tellé Records and they created the independent label Opplett with the aim of producing young talent from Bergen and the surrounding area. The label Opplett published three projects: the album Opplett 2008 that contains seven songs by seven artists (such as Lars Vaular, John Olav Nilsen & Gjengen and Razika, 2008); the first single of Indie rock band Razika called Love is All About the Timing; and the first album of the band Fjorden Baby!.

London In 1998 he moved to London and then in 1999 to Manchester. When he was back home in Bergen for vacations he jammed with Eirik Glambek Bøe, his former high school and Skog mate. The duo formed Kings of Convenience in 1998 and released the debut record, Quiet is the New Loud, in 2001.

Berlin In the same period, he collaborated with the electronic Norwegian duo Röyksopp, lending his voice for the song "Poor Leno" and "Remind Me" on the record Melody A.M.. As a result, he became interested in electronic music and spent the next years in Berlin from 2002 to 2006 or travelling around the world, recording his solo album Unrest in ten cities with ten electronic music artists. He toured as a DJ, singing along with the records that he played and released a remix record for the DJ Kicks series in 2004. In the same year, Kings of Convenience released the second record Riot on an Empty Street. Meanwhile, he founded another project in Berlin, The Whitest Boy Alive. The band originally started as an electronic band, but slowly developed into a band with no electronic elements, releasing the debut record Dreams in 2006, while the latest record entitled Rules was released in 2009. Both the records were released by Bubbles Records, the independent label founded by Erlend Øye and Marcin Öz in 2006. In 2006, he appeared in the Italian movie Shooting Silvio acting as DJ during a house party. In 2009, Kings of Convenience released the third record Declaration of Dependence. In 2011 and 2013, he produced the records Hest and Six months is a long time by fellow Bergen band Kakkmaddafakka.

Sicily In 2012, during a small concert organized in a vernissage in Ortigia in Sicily, he publicly stated that he had bought a house in the city of Syracuse to move there with his mother. In 2013, he released a new single, entitled La Prima Estate, sung in Italian and inspired by his time living in Italy, which is accompanied by a videoclip shot in Syracuse. He is currently working on more songs in Italian, which will be made into an album. In 2014, The Whitest Boy Alive announced the end of the project. On 3 October 2014, he released his second solo album Legao, recorded in Reykjavík with Hjálmar, a reggae group from Iceland, which was anticipated by the single Garota with a videoclip shot in Seoul. Despite currently living in Sicily, he is still involved in the Bergen music scene, promoting local bands and assisting the organization of the annual Traena Music Festival.

Chile On numerous occasions Øye has visited Chile. His first presentation was in 2006, during his tour in South America. In 2017 he traveled to Chile to spend a season at the home of a close friend who lived in Santiago, where he mainly dedicated himself to composing songs on the ukulele. After playing at the "En Orbita" Festival, he met Tiare Galaz (a member of the Chilean band Niña Tormenta), who also played the ukulele. After talking with Tiare backstage, they agreed to meet another day to share their experiences on the instrument. After being invited to dinner the next day by Tiare, he met Diego Lorenzini, who brought him a chord notebook. Some time later, he was invited to a series of concerts of the Matiné Uva Robot, where he met musicians Rosario Alfonso and Javier Bobbert. In an interview with CNN Chile, he said "from that moment on we started to play regularly while I was in Chile. It was very surprising to see how the musical search of these four Chileans was very similar to what I was doing with the support band that I had formed with three Sicilian friends - called La Comitiva -, so I finally decided to invite them to open my tour of Germany together". In 2019 Øye collaborated with Diego Lorenzini in his song Me voy a Valparaíso from his album De algo hay que morir (UVA Robot, 2019). In late 2019, The Whitest Boy Alive announced a new series of performances in Chile and Argentina and in 2020 released the non-album single Serious, the project's first new material since 2009's Rules.

Mexico In the beginning of 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Øye found himself stranded in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico. In a hotel that came equipped with a recording studio, Øye and Sebastian Maschat, the drummer of Whitest Boy Alive, recorded the album Quarantine At El Ganzo.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Year Song Artist Album Notes 1999 "Brave New World" Kings Of Convenience Kings Of Convenience "Failure" "Toxic Girl" 2001 "Winning A Battle, Losing The War" Quiet Is The New Loud "Toxic Girl" (alternate version) Re-issue; different tracklisting and artwork "Failure" (alternate version) Re-issue; different tracklisting and artwork2002"Ghost Trains" Erlend ØyeUnrest"Symptom Of Disease" 2003 "Sudden Rush" Music video directed by Jarvis Cocker "Sheltered Life" 2004 "The Black Keys Work" DJ-KiCKS: Erlend Øye "Misread" Kings Of Convenience Riot On An Empty Street "Inflation" / "Dance With Me" The Whitest Boy Alive / Cosmo Vitelli Kitsuné Midnight Split 10" vinyl single promoting a compilation album by the label Kitsuné Musique; early version of 'Inflation' "I'd Rather Dance With You" Kings Of Convenience Riot On An Empty Street "Know-How" Featuring Feist 2006 "Burning" / "Inflation" The Whitest Boy Alive Dreams Double A-side single; album version of 'Inflation'; 'Inflation' music video directed by Marcin Öz 2007 "Burning" 2008 "Golden Cage" Music video directed by Mauro Vecchi 2009 "1517" Rules "Mrs. Cold" Kings Of Convenience Declaration Of Dependence "Boat Behind" 2013 "La Prima Estate" Erlend Øye Non-album single Music video directed by Gabriele Galanti and Marcin Öz 2014 "Garota" Legao Music video directed by Mike Beech (as 'Michael Beech') ft. Lee Ha-na "Fence Me In" Live studio session video filmed by Magnus Atli Magnusson "Rainman" Music video directed by Clara Cebrian 2015 "Estate" Onde Nostre: Guarda Dove Ti Ho Portato Originally by Bruno Martino; from the soundtrack for the documentary 'Peninsula', directed by Luca Merli 2019 "Paradiso" Erlend Øye and La Comitiva Non-album singles Featuring Stargaze; music video directed by Mike Beech "For The Time Being" Originally by Phonique 2020 "Valdivia" Featuring Stargaze; music video directed by Abril Shaw "Serious" The Whitest Boy Alive

EPs

Collaborations and Guest appearances

Year Song Artist Release