Junior

The Scandinavian electronica makers come back

The Norwegian duet Royksopp, consisting of two musicians - Tornbjorn Brundland and Svein Berge - have been long known for taking the seat on the top of electronic music world. In 2002, they released their famous debut Melody A.M. and fastened the success with the sophomore attempt The Understanding, which broadened their boundaries of sound. The music of this prolific band was played not only on musical channels and numerous radio stations, but also in different advertisement videos. The interest to Royksopp was heated up by unusual videos, which also gained the band the MTV Europe Music Awards prize for the Best Musical Video. However, for about four years from the past release, the performers did not seem ready to enlarge their discography. In 2009, they finally did it - Royksopp recorded the disc Junior. The first single from the new long-play, Happy Up Here, could be heard in January. First of all, it should be noticed that the album is very Scandinavian, especially on the part of vocals - the disc features such vocalists as Karin Dreijer Andersson from the band The Knife, Royksopp’s regular colleague Anneli Drecker and such names as Robyn and Lykke Li. Besides, the style of the new disc by Royksopp, citing their own words, is something in between their debut and the second work, which sounds extremely promising.

Junior is filled with contrasts

As it was mentioned above, the album Junior was performed to the listeners by the cheerful electro-pop track Happy Up Here. However, this song, in spite of all its merits, does not mirror all the richness and diversity of the new full-length by Royksopp. Happy Up Here is followed by the wonderful, mesmerizing composition The Girl And The Robot, featuring the vocals by Robyn. It is a touching story of a girl’s love to a machine. The track Vision One with Anneli Drecker starts as a placid, lullaby-like tune, but soon grows into the dance electronica with the hooking synths. Well, this song is one of the examples of the fact that the Royksopp’s members have grown up in the musical plane during these years. The songs This Must Be It and Tricky Tricky are decorated with the vocals by Karin Dreijer Andersson and dtrongly remind of the creativity by The Knife. The first mentioned track is the pulsating disco house, while Tricky Tricky is an unusual funk composition. The ironically-titled song Royksopp Forever shows us the artists, mixing up the electronic music with the sounds of orchestra, which gave them a dark and moody result. The melody You Don't Have A Clue is sure to catch the attention of any listener by its uniqueness and catchy tune. It can be definitely marked as the producing triumph by Royksopp.

The double present from Royksopp

May be, somebody decided that Royksopp showed up themselves only for a brief period of time with the new gorgeous album and would nor emerge on the big scene for several years again. Well, good news - such thoughts should be delayed for a long time, as in the same 2009, the Scandinavian electronica makers are planning the follow-up long-play, titled Senior. On this disc, they are going to develop their sound further, comparing this process with the mining. However, while the disc is still in the process, we should concentrate our attention on their fresh-comer Junior. This work definitely deserves attention, and even more attention, than its predecessors. On Junior, the artists grew up; they became more sophisticated in different sound effects and producing. But the most drastic change has happened to Tornbjorn Brundland’s and Svein Berge’s song-writing skills. The previous full-lengths by Royksopp were the embodiment of their pure, original talent, while the disc Junior is the amazing mix of this gift, multiplied by the experience. It is a greatly diversified, partly shiny and optimistic, partly dark disc. Nevertheless, it manages to be integral. After such albums, as Junior, one is sure to look forward the following disc of the band.