Erlend Øye

Erlend Øye
Erlend Øye at Jazzaldia in San Sebastián (Spain) in 2008
Background information
Born	(1975-11-21) 21 November 1975
Origin	Bergen, Norway
Genres	alternative dance electronic indie folk indie pop indie rock instrumental synthpop
Occupation(s)	composer musician multi-instrumentalist producer singer songwriter
Instrument(s)	vocals guitar bass guitar piano
Years active	1997–present
Labels	!K7 Astralwerks Bubbles Records EMI Service Virgin

Erlend Øye is a Norwegian composer, musician, multi-instrumentalist, producer, singer and songwriter from Bergen, best known for being part, together with Eirik Glambek Bøe, of the indie folk duo Kings of Convenience. He was the leader of the band The Whitest Boy Alive and he is the founder of the indipendent label Bubbles Records.

Biography

Erlend Øye was born on 21 November 1975 in Bergen. Grown up listening to Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, Suzanne Vega and The Smiths, during the high-school in the middle of '90s, he formed together with some friends 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 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. 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 different cities with ten different electronic artists. He toured as a dj singing along with the records that he played and he 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. In the 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 programmed 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 label founded by Erlend Øye and Marcin Öz in 2006). In 2006, he partecipated to the Italian movie Shooting Silvio ating as a dj during in a house party. In 2011 and in 2013, he produced the records Hest and Six months is a long time by fellow Bergen band Kakkmaddafakka. He is an honorary citizen of the city of Siracusa in Sicily. In 2012, in fact, during a small concert organized in a vernissage in Ortigia, he publicly stated that he had bought a house in the city of Siracusa with the intention of living 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. He is currently working on more songs in Italian, which will be collected in the future in a record. In 2014, The Whitest Boy Alive announced the end of the project. On 5 September 2014, he will release his second solo album Legao, recorded in Reykjavík with Hjálmar, a reggae group from Iceland, which was anticipated by the videoclip for the single Garota shot in Seoul. Despite currently living in Sicily, he is stll involved in the Bergen music scene, promoting local bands and assisting the organization of the annual Traena Music Festival.

Discography

Erlend Øye

Albums

• 2003 - Unrest
• 2014 - Legao

Singles

• 2003 - Sudden Rush
• 2003 - Sheltered Life
• 2004 - The Black Keys Work
• 2013 - La Prima Estate
• 2014 - Garota

Mixes

• 2004 - DJ-Kicks: Erlend Øye

Productions

• 2011 - Kakkmaddafakka - Hest
• 2013 - Kakkmaddafakka - Six months is a long time

Collaborations

• 2001 - Röyksopp - Melody A.M. (Poor Leno, Remind Me)
• 2001 - Jolly Music - Jolly Bar (Talco Uno)
• 2002 - Ash - Envy (I Shall Not Die)
• 2002 - Dntel - (This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan ((This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan (Safety Scissors spilled my drink mix))
• 2003 - Ragazzi - Friday (The Partner)
• 2003 - DJ Hell - NY Muscle (Keep on Waiting)
• 2004 - Phonique - Identification (For the Time Being)
• 2004 - Star You Star Me - A Place In My Heart (A Place In My Heart)
• 2004 - Bart Davenport - Live at the Chabot House
• 2005 - Kaos - Hello Stranger (Lessons In Love)
• 2005 - Korsakow - Ears (I've Been Waiting So Long) (credited as Orlando Occhio)
• 2005 - Ada - Blondix 2 (Cool My Fire)
• 2005 - Safety Scissors - Tainted Lunch (Breastbone, Sunlight's On The Other Side, Sunlight's On The Other Side (acoustic version))
• 2005 - Marco Passarani - Sullen Look (Criticize) (credited as Orlando Occhio)
• 2006 - James Figurine - Mistake Mistake Mistake (All the Way to China)
• 2006 - Kompis - All Ears (All Ears)
• 2006 - Cornelius - Sensuous (Omstart)
• 2007 - Phonique - Good Idea (Casualties)
• 2011 - Palmy - 5 (Crush)
• 2014 - Dena - Flash (Flashed)

Compilations

• 2002 - VV.AA. - Total Lee! The Songs of Lee Hazlewood (Erlend Øye - No Train To Stockholm)
• 2002 - VV.AA. - Seasonal Greetings (Erlend Øye - Last Christmas)
• 2005 - VV.AA. - Friends and Lovers: Songs of Bread (Erlend Øye - Friends and Lovers)

Videoclips

• 2002 - Jolly Music feat. Erlend Øye - Talco Uno (directed by Scott Lyon)
• 2003 - Erlend Øye - Sudden Rush (directed by Jarvis Cocker)
• 2012 - Palmy feat. Erlend Øye - Crush (directed by Chardchakaj Waikawee)
• 2013 - Erlend Øye - La Prima Estate (directed by Gabriele Galanti and Marcin Öz)
• 2013 - Kakkmaddafakka - Someone New (directed by Erlend Øye and Marcin Öz)
• 2014 - Erlend Øye - Garota (directed by Michael Beech)

Covers

Erlend Øye often performs reworked versions of other band's songs during his concerts. Among the most played covers, Thirteen by Big Star, Blowin' in the Wind and Don't Think Twice, It's All Right by Bob Dylan, Redemption Song by Bob Marley, E la chiamano estate by Bruno Martino, Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits, Dreams by Fleetwood Mac, Sapore di sale by Gino Paoli, Til þín by Hjálmar, Una ragazza in due by I Giganti, These Days by Jackson Browne, Tram #7 to Heaven by Jens Lekman, Happy Xmas (War Is Over) and Jealous Guy by John Lennon, No Train To Stockholm by Lee Hazlewood, E la luna bussò by Loredana Bertè, Grande grande grande by Mina, Wonderwall by Oasis, You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon, Se a vida é (That's the Way Life Is) by Pet Shop Boys, Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd, Ignition by R. Kelly, (They Long to Be) Close to You by Richard Chamberlain, Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) by The Beatles, Ask, Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now, Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want and There Is a Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths, Boys Don't Cry by The Cure, Last Christmas by Wham!.

Kings of Convenience

Albums

• 2000 - Kings of Convenience (only Canda and United States)
• 2001 - Quiet Is the New Loud
• 2001 - Versus
• 2004 - Riot on an Empty Street
• 2009 - Declaration of Dependence

EPs

• 2000 - Playing Live in a Room
• 2001 - Magic in the Air
• 2010 - Kings of Convenience's Live Acoustic Sessions - Milan 2009

Singles

• 1999 - Brave New World
• 1999 - Failure
• 1999 - Toxic Girl
• 2001 - Failure (re-release)
• 2001 - Toxic Girl (re-release)
• 2001 - Winning a Battle, Losing the War
• 2004 - Misread
• 2004 - I'd Rather Dance with You
• 2005 - Know How
• 2009 - Mrs. Cold
• 2009 - Boat Behind

Videoclips

• 1999 - Failure
• 1999 - Toxic Girl
• 2004 - Misread
• 2004 - I'd Rather Dance with You
• 2004 - Cayman Islands
• 2009 - Mrs. Cold
• 2009 - Boat Behind
• 2009 - Me in You

The Whitest Boy Alive

Albums

• 2006 - Dreams
• 2009 - Rules

Singles

• 2004 - Inflation
• 2006 - Burning
• 2008 - Golden Cage
• 2009 - 1517

Videoclips

• 2006 - Inflation
• 2007 - Golgen Cage

Skog

EP

• 1996 - Tom Tids Tale

Compilations

• 1997 - VV.AA. - Balance. From The Joy Division Reservoir (Skog - The Eternal)

Filmography

• 1997 - Shooting Silvio (directed by Berardo Carboni) (role: dj)

See also

• Kings of Convenience
• The Whitest Boy Alive
• Skog

External links

• Erlend Øye (Official Web-Site)
• Kings of Convenience (Official Web-Site)
• The Whitest Boy Alive (Official Web-Site)e
• Bubbles Records (Official Web-Site)