Kings of Convenience kickstarted the short-lived acoustic movement with their excellent 2001 debut Quiet Is The New Loud. Since then, however, the silence from the Norwegian duo has been deafening - Erik Glambert Boe went back to university while Erlend Oye tried to become a DJ in Berlin. Good to see that they're back together then, because this hauntingly beautiful follow-up proves that the chemistry between them is still gloriously intact. The ingredients mightn't amount to much - just a few delicately plucked guitars, terse lyrics and doleful Scandinavian harmonies. Somehow, however, there's a knowing intelligence about these songs that makes them so much more than the sum of their parts. Forget the Simon and Garfunkel comparisons, because the Kings are true originals. Time for the commoners to bow before the throne.

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