Breaking Rules

Rules
The Whitest Boy Alive
Modular, 2008
3.5 stars

Erlend Øye certainly has interesting musical taste. Best known as one half of Norwegian folk-pop duo Kings of Convenience, he is also an accomplished electronic artist. The Whitest Boy Alive, a four-piece with Øye up the front, started as a dance group, but by the time their 2006 debut Dreams came out the group had morphed into an indie pop group, with no programmed instruments to be found. On Rules, Øye revisits his interest in dance music, only this time the sound is more disco than club floor. Rules has a real ‘70s kick (which could have something to do with the recent introduction of Rhodes piano and a Crumar synth), a far cry from the stripped-back guitar pop of Dreams. But strangely enough, in a dorky kind of way, it works. Intentions has a serious Steely Dan vibe (for me, a good thing) and Timebomb is, from the first beat, a blatant disco (or perhaps post-disco) track, but the magic really happens when the band get the blend (two parts ‘old guitar sound’ and one part ‘new synth-heavy sound’) just right, such as on 1517 and Promise Less Or Do More. Rules is a very poppy, a little bit daggy, and catchy as hell.

Artwork: B+
These guys always do a bang-up job with their artwork. Simple black-on-white drawings and neat hand-written text make for a nice, uncomplicated look.

Published in mX, Thursday February 12, 2009.