Kings Of Convenience — Declaration Of Dependence

Declaration Of Dependence

Virgin/EMI

Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

11/06/2009 1:42pm

At this point, it probably shouldn't come as any surprise that Declaration Of Dependence, Kings Of Convenience's third album, sounds exactly the same as the band's two previous studio releases. The Norwegian duo of Erlend Oye and Eirik Glambek Boe have built their career thus far on constructing quiet songs based around their dual harmonies and intricate acoustic guitar melodies, but this is becoming a problem at this point.

Unfortunately, Declaration Of Dependence is a bore from start to finish. Many of the disc's songs tackle themes like hatred, violence and warfare, but these themes are lost amidst the snooze that is the music.

Apart from some subtle cello, violin, upright bass and piano, there's little other instrumentation on the record. Of course, this is Kings Of Convenience's shtick, but a lack of variety is starting to hinder them at this point. Throughout Declaration Of Dependence, you get the feeling that the duo are meandering, trying to figure out what to do next, but are stuck in a rut at the same time because, yes, they've become dependent on a formula.

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