There will be few album titles which are more apposite than Kings Of Convenience's debut given the current trend for spare, acoustic albums at the moment. This Norwegian duo rely almost solely on guitars (steel, acoustic and electric) and harmonies to get their message across; it's been done before of course but rarely with such a keen ear for melody. It is difficult to pick out individual moments as the album works best as a whole but if one is forced to, listen to the delightfully doleful steel guitar intro to recent single 'Failure' or the vocal twists employed by main vocalist Eirik Glambek Boe on 'I Don't Know What I Can Save You From'. There's incredibly no mediocre tracks on 'Quiet Is The New Loud' but best of all is the final track 'Parallel Lines' which stakes a claim for sadness being the new happiness (sample lyric of romantic longing: "In my imagination you are cast in gold. Your image a compensation for me to hold."). It is the overall quality of the album which make nearest soundalikes Simon and Garfunkel seem like incredibly naive young pretenders.