It was with great joy that I stumbled upon a previously unknown (to me, that is) CD of Erlend Oye, everybody's favourite Norwegian, in a shop in Copenhagen this week. Unrest is an album that Oye, of Whitest Boy Alive and Kings of Convenience fame, recorded in 2001-02. The concept is a simple but a delightful one. Berlin-based Oye spent the year travelling around the world, working with friends and contemporaries, and collaborated on a song with a local artist in ten different cities, from the metropolis of New York to towns such as Uddevalla. His near-perfect voice is there on show in each piece, along with that glorious brand of uplifting oft-electronic-tinged pop to which he has become the standard-bearing accompaniment.
Anyone who bought Dave Clarke's era-defining World Service compilation will be familiar with Mr. Velco Fastener. I have not heard of him since the appearance of Who's Gonna Bend on that album, but he appears here, recording Symptom of Disease with Oye in the Finnish town of Turku.
Upon listening to this album we can see that the sound Oye has made his own, and the electronic influences that are more evident in the Whitest Boy Alive project, were already well in the making by the beginning of the decade. A very enjoyable listen indeed.
Ghost Trains (feat Morgan Geist)
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