Röyksopp: Norwegian duo still wowing us with soundscapes best served chilled

The Ultimate Chill Out, Café del Mar, Hôtel Costes, Real Ibiza… At the turn of the century, as the trend in electronic music compilations for bubble baths and massage parlours reached its apex, overwrought soccer moms and teen ravers alike were introduced to the downtempo bliss of Scandinavian duo Röyksopp.

With their breakthrough album Melody A.M. in 2001, the two former schoolmates from Tromsø, Norway provided warm dancefloor beats, analog synths, soulful house and rapturous funk to their broad fanbase.

Almost 10 years later, they release Senior (a counterpoint to Junior, their preceding LP), which I’d argue is their best album yet. They boldly do without any lyrics or guest vocalists; pare down the flashy rhythm build-ups and instantly hummable melodies that had defined Junior. Instead, Senior is dreamy, introspective and darkly enchanting.

Exactly what the duo’s detractors needed – think those who’d long ago written them off as generic electronica for overwrought soccer moms – to have them eat their own words. So have Sven and Torbjørn permanently retired their party-hardy antics and eccentric concert get-up in the name of maturity? Not quite.

“Luckily, this album has been understood as a concept album, rather than an attempt for us to be honest about age,” an out-of-breath Torbjørn tells me on the line from the Scandinavian winterland, as he struggles to keep up with an agitated pooch. “It’s not like, ‘oh, we’ve matured!’ sitting there with a bottle of whiskey, reminiscing and feeling the blues. It’s more conceptual in thinking about age, more tongue-in-cheek.”

Big ideas
Even though Röyksopp scrapped vocals in favour of an instrumental-only soundscape, Senior is nevertheless permeated with arresting concepts – songs like “Foresaken Country” and “The Fear” hint at stories behind those very evocative titles. Such is the case with “The Alcoholic,” apparently about a hitchhiker looking back on his life…or something like that.

”When we make music in the studio, we create stories in our heads, but they are not necessarily something we want to impose onto the audience. Music should speak for itself, it shouldn’t be that it only works if it has a good story.”

Yet we all know that pairing sound with striking images can enhance the listening experience, revealing new layers of meaning. Case in point: the video for “The Drug.” Set in a desolate, post-apocalyptic landscape, the video numbs us with its shots of rifles, skulls, wolves and tots with mutilated faces over their hypnotic synth-driven melody.

Röyksopp called upon a director with great access to the city of Detroit to paint this harrowing, almost Chernobyl-like portrait of American misery. “The state that city is in is obviously very sad; it’s a tragedy. But when somebody uses it aesthetically, like in our movie, it becomes a document of reality. Perhaps in the future things will turn out for the better for Detroit and people can look back on this music video and say that this was almost…almost how it used to be.”

Röyksopp
March 19 | Club Soda
1225, St. Laurent
with Jon Hopkins
www.royksopp.com