Erlend Oye – “La Prima Estate”
Posted by Jakub
The man that gave some of us our favorite Royksopp song, Smiths cover, the face of Kings Of Convenience, and the soul of The Whitest Boy Alive, and pretty much my idol has a new single… and its in Italian. I have mixed feelings, I don’t dislike it, I really don’t want to listen to it again today because of the Olive Garden commercial guitar on it, maybe tomorrow.
Its hard, i’m not a Kings Of Convenience bandwagon fan, i’m a true Erlend fan and this just throws a few things off but not in a bad way. For the record, I enjoy how everything else meshes, that synth is actually refreshing, the flute with the bassline nails some classy early light disco that i’m a fan of. But the ukelele sounding thing when its up front, i’m just not feeling. What are your thoughts? and don’t say “why those shoes?” because I already said it.
15 Comments Leave A Comment
pinwizz says:
July 29, 2013 at 5:11 pmFresh from digging 70’s italian pop folk on discogs, I can only welcome such style. I think this aesthetics is not yet explored at all. Not even dismissed, but almost ignored. It’s balancing on the thin line, however – if it’d sound a tiny bit more modern, it would be in the Eurovision territory. But with such instrumentation it evokes the feel of mid-70’s comedy soundtracks, and that ukelele thing fits perfectly for that.
To think of it – Goblin and Carpenter style was in the vogue and even sometimes played thanks to the likes of Zombie Zombie and Jonathan Snipes. And this seems like a bright side of the same thing.
patrick says:
July 29, 2013 at 8:42 pmWaaaaaayyy too into that wreath hanging on the rear-view.
Rob says:
July 29, 2013 at 8:55 pmif anyone can pull this off it’s him
Alessandro says:
July 30, 2013 at 12:27 amMamma mia, che schifo!!
frankie says:
July 30, 2013 at 7:49 amSounds like Jens Lekman
Leo Utskot says:
July 30, 2013 at 7:52 amAs a fellow Norwegian I have to say I love what he’s doing here. I remember the 80s back in Norway, the wannabe-italian style we had going in summertime as we tried hard to shed the winter blues and our socialist, eastern-European look. Erlend is having a nostalgic lapse and trying hard to capture that feeling during our national summer vacation (nobody works in July).
And just as we failed in the 80s to become soft and romantic before falling back to the minimalist Bauhaus style we’re famous for now, I’m afraid Erlend will also do the same.
Stick to what we’re good at, just like Mr. Hansen does so well here.
Mattia says:
July 30, 2013 at 4:11 pmGuys guys guys. This song rocks, and I can tell you for sure, as I’m italian (and that certifies what, exactly?). He did a hell of a job in recreating the sound of easy-listening/pop music from the italian 70s. He worked a lot on the pronunciation, I can tell that for sure. You can still guess he’s not italian when he sings.
This sounds a mix between Lucio Battisti, Mina, Claudio Baglioni, or many italian soundtracks of the period.
This tracks has exactly what most italian pop songs nowadays lack, that lightness, that is imperative to have and apply when you don’t want to think yourself as the next greatest artist.
@Alessandro, the song itself is very naïf, it’s NOT MEANT to be a good song, but simply an easy-listening, mindless, light summery song. And to do it on purpose it’s devastatingly hard. It’s easy to put down your hands on the keyboard and pull out a few minor chords, throw in moving love lyrics and pretend you’ve written poetry. Thumbs up Erlend!
egoDeluxe says:
July 31, 2013 at 12:09 amwhy those pants?
Maria Paz says:
August 1, 2013 at 3:22 pmThose aerophones really do it for me. I actually love it, but then again… I am a sucker for 60’s italian pop.
I can’t wait to see what the rest of the album is like.
Melvin Hoyk says:
August 2, 2013 at 9:35 amIs very addictive and I’m on it, looping. :) Thank you.
Heather Pinhorn says:
August 6, 2013 at 2:10 pmIt’s catchy and upbeat and musically accomplished but if I’m honest I don’t like the fact it’s sung in Italian – I’m a great fan and have seen him live twice now and he is an excellent performer, singer and talented composer who has written songs with fantastic lyrics I find it frustrating that he has decided to sing in a language few of us understand!!
Must have fallen in love with Italy!
Jeff Hendrickson says:
August 11, 2013 at 3:00 amJakub. You’re a supercilious cunt
rec says:
August 12, 2013 at 9:21 am‘Unrest’ is one of my favorite albums of all time. Also a huge Kings of Convenience fan (not bandwagon as well..)… and although this is not a bad song (very well made I might say).. I don’t think I’ll be looping this one on my player either.. Also agree that I don’t like that he’s singing in italian.
I never comment on these things, but I can’t not say something when it’s about this guy whom I really admire as a musician.
Jared says:
September 22, 2013 at 8:02 pmWhat kind of car is this?!
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