Tracklist:

1. 24-25
2. Mrs. Cold
3. Me in You
4. Boat Behind
5. Rule My World
6. My Ship Isn't Pretty
7. Renegade
8. Power of Not Knowing
9. Peacetime Resistance
10. Freedom and Its Owner
11. Riot on an Empty Street
12. Second to Numb
13. Scars on Land

The quiet, acoustic approach has been driven to the extreme on the new album. If you're looking for new electronic escapades by Erlend Øye or at least danceable tunes like “I'd Rather Dance with you”, you're at the wrong adress. In fact, there is no percussion in the conventional sense on this album, no guest stars — nothing but Øye amd Bøe, their guitars and some subdued strings and piano.

The recording benefits from the sparse instrumentation and feels positively “handmade”: the voices and instrumentation have texture, spatial positioning and balance — from an engineering standpoint it's very well crafted, it really captures the band playing.

If you're asking yourself: “So why is this more than a simple copy of Simon & Garfunkel?” Well, they somehow manage to tread the thin line and never actually drift into bland and shallow waters — could be owing to the lyrics and their avoidance of over-sugared melodies.

Clear standout tracks are hard to identify, even after listening to the record 4-5 times. Currently I favor “Rule my World” with it's clever interaction of rhythm and lead guitar. On the positive side, the album makes for a great listen at a stretch.

So, no surprises from Kings of Convenience, but a perfection of the well-known formula.