I Was a King have been at the heart of the Norwegian music scene for the best part of 20 years. For their 10th studio album, the band decamped to Bill Ryder-Jones’ studio in West Kirby just outside Liverpool. As well as being at the helm of the production, Ryder-Jones also contributed piano, harmonium and guitar to the record. The band have said that Ryder-Jones “took the music to new places, and sometimes we got lost. Part of the point of bringing in external producers is that they make something new happen.”
At the core of I Was a King are Frode Strømstads and Lise Frøkedal. This is an album of melodious, elegant songs which wear their influences very much on their sleeve, especially Teenage Fanclub and Big Star. In fact, in the past,…