Additional personnel: Ian Bracken, Matt McGeever (cello); Ben Dumville (trumpet); Tarjei Strom (drums).

Producers: Ken Nelson, Kings Of Convenience.

Recorded at Parr Street Studios, Liverpool, England.

Personnel: Erlend Oye (vocals, guitar, electric guitar, steel guitar, piano, drums, percussion); Ian Bracken, Matt McGeever (cello); Ben Dumville (trumpet); Tarjei Strom (drums).

Audio Mixer: Ken Nelson.

Recording information: Liverpool, New England.

Emerging in 2001 on a small wave of hype touting Norway as a new musical hotbed, QUIET IS THE NEW LOUD was startling in its earnestness, even to ears that had been softened by the likes of Belle & Sebastian. Where that Scottish band tempers its twee-ness with clever, winking wordplay, Erlend Oye and Eirik Glambek Boe are more akin to a latter-day Simon & Garfunkel or a couple of Nick Drakes who are lucky to have found each other.

Disarmingly sensitive, poetic tracks such as "Parallel Lines" ("What's the immaterial substance that envelops two/That one perceives as hunger and the other as food") are sung by the duo in honeyed harmonies with a pleasantly laid-back delivery. Oye and Boe eschew drums on all but two tracks (upbeat highlights "Toxic Girl" and "Failure"), simply using layered guitars and the occasional string, piano, or trumpet flourish to accent the hushed power of their songs. The overall effect is one of bedroom introspection, well suited to their nostalgic, inward-looking lyrics.