Oslo, Norway's I Was a King are back with their ninth album, Follow Me Home, which will be out October 28 via Coastal Town Recordings. Frode Strømstad and Anne Lise Frøkedal approached this one a little differently than previous albums, which were more full-band affairs. “We felt that doing it as a two-piece this time would be a fresh approach, playing instruments we normally don’t play just to get some different ideas and textures and keeping it as simple and organic as possible.”
The band are known for their love of jangly guitar pop -- one of their early singles was "Norman Bleik," an ode to the Teenage Fanclub guitarist (who went on to produce an IWAK album) -- but "Growing Wild" goes into more melancholy territory, while keeping the hook count high. This one has a little of Frøkedal's former band, Harrys Gym, in its DNA.
"This song started with the idea of being a punk rock number," says Strømstad. "Kind of like a noisier Sebadoh track or something. We tried it out with full band, but ended up just going back to its core and approached the song more as a folky number. During lock down Anne Lise spent months learning to play the violin, which came in useful on this and a few other songs on the new record."
Listen to that and a few other songs from the album below.
Frode Strømstad is also part of The No Ones, with REM's Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey, who also have a new album on the way.
Fanatic Promotion · I Was A King - Growing Wild
i was a king
Follow Me Home: 1. All This Time 2. Down 3. Follow Me Home 4. Growing Wild 5. Here At Last 6. Know The Way 7. Flag 8. Leave 9. Lo Pressure 10. Getting Colder 11. Sweet Things 12. Wood & Stone
