Röyksopp

Rock group

Much like the Chemical Brothers and the Prodigy did in the mid-1990s, Norway's Röyksopp brought electronic music to a pop audience at a time when the dance scene seemed all but dead to the mainstream.

The duo of Torbjorn Brundtland and Svein Berge met in elementary school and started working together at a very young age. In the isolated city of Tromsø, located 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle, the pair would borrow electronic equipment from different stores to use as sound sources, and then return the pieces when they were finished recording with them.

In the early 1990s, the two were obsessed with electronic dance music, but there wasn't much of a rave scene in their city. Berge explained in an interview with Barcode, "In Tromsø [raves] were scarce—but we knew some guys who arranged rave parties every 3 months or so that probably had 50-100 people attending at most. And up in Tromsø it would really be quite drug-free, and more about the joy of playing live music, the atmosphere and the strobes, which meant the scene was very healthy."

At the ages of 17 and 18 respectively, Berge and Brundtland formed Aedena Cycle and got in touch with local ambient producer Geir Jenssen (of Biosphere and Bel Canto fame). He helped them find a label, Belgium's R&S/Apollo, which at the time was a strong force in the techno world. In 1994 they released their debut, the EP Travellers' Dream. But after just one recording the pair drifted apart.

In 1998, however, Berge and Brundtland met again in Bergen, Norway, the city that also spawned pop acts Annie and Kings of Convenience, and re-formed as Röyksopp. Berge discussed the multiple meanings of the group's name with Barcode: "One of them is a little fungus, which in English is called 'puffball'—a little fungus that when you step on it bursts into a cloud of spores. And also, there is the meaning of the mushroom cloud that appears after the explosion of a nuclear bomb. The most important thing is that it's a word that is not really common in the Norwegian language, and we just thought it would be perfect for a band name because it's so very much out of place."

With a couple of small singles under their belt, the dance label Wall of Sound offered Röyksopp an album deal, and they immediately got working on Melody A.M., their 2001 full-length debut album.

The release was met with great acclaim. The BBC's Andy Puleston commented, "With the release of Melody A.M., Röyksopp cause us to draw sweet breath and marvel as our stereo is seduced by a luscious blend of porno sax kitsch … dance floor stomp and studio wizardry."

Melody A.M. did enormously well on the charts, selling over one million copies worldwide. The single "Remind Me" took the Best Video prize at the European MTV awards, and the record received "Year's Best" accolades from the likes of Rolling Stone, GQ, and Jockey Slut. Entertainment Weekly named it their Best Electronica Album.

Their appeal was far-reaching, and spoke to more than just the chin-stroking techno crowd that they had expected to tap. Spin's Michaelangelo Matos noted that with Melody A.M., "Röyksopp became the rare dance act whose epic qualities seemed almost accidental, as if they'd happened to stumble upon a widescreen feel while tooling around with the minutiae of their equipment. Even when they were concocting giant synth-string swooshes on 'Röyksopp's Night Out,' the music felt somehow intimate, like it was made for a small group of people watching the northern lights from an igloo."

Similarly, Remix's Justin Kleinfeld wrote, "Like dance music's best-known acts (such as the Chemical Brothers and Underworld), it is hard to confine Röyksopp to any one specific sound. With Melody A.M., Röyksopp presented a warm and fuzzy album that challenged listeners with a blend of electronic beats, house rhythms, smooth vocals, folktronica and frosty Norwegian pop."

Following Melody A.M.'s remarkable success, the duo embarked on a couple of sprawling tours with Moby and Basement Jaxx, and eventually headlined their own tour. Since both Berge and Brundtland were avid collectors of gear, and to make sure that the live show would be more interesting than a couple of people tapping away at laptops, they built a master control unit to house all of their synthesizers, drum machines, and effects. The unit (five meters long [approximately 16.4 feet], nearly two meters tall [approximately 6.6 feet], and weighing more than 200 lbs.) provided a handy stage element, too, where the duo could perform "inside" and "outside," and control every aspect of the stage show.

Between touring and recording their new music, Berge and Brundtland took on some songwriting and production duties with Bergen-based pop singer Annie in 2003. For her debut, 2005's Anniemal, they co-wrote "My Best Friend" and "Heartbeat," a track that would also take indie and dance crowds in the United States by storm.

When it came time to following up on Melody A.M., Röyksopp "played it cooler than cool," wrote Kleinfeld. Of the opening track on 2005's The Understanding, Brundtland told Kleinfeld, "We just wanted to make a progressive track that could open the album and, at the same point, continue where Melody A.M. left off. We wanted to make something that had a build to it—a crescendo—in a raw and direct kind of way."

The track, titled "Triumphant," "was made on the piano in a drunken haze," admitted Brundtland. "We were at a party, and there was a group of girls who didn't believe that we made our own music. Sometimes, people just don't believe that you do everything. They think that you are the spokesman and have other people do everything. And we were sort of forced to compose something on the fly to prove it to them. So right there at the party, we came up with these piano chords that floated downwards and upwards again. It ended up being the beginning of 'Triumphant.'"

The rest of the disc was equally collaborative for the duo, and they enlisted the vocals of Kate Havnevik, whom they had met backstage at a show in New York, to contribute to The Understanding. "She has this almost divine quality to her voice that is almost ancient singing," Brundtland told Kleinfeld. "Everyone asks us what kind of plug-in we used to get her voice that clear—her voice is just like that. It has that quality. When you hit a note without any vibrato, you can get that programmed vibe without actually using it."

For the Record …

Members include Torbjorn Brundtland, producer; Svein Berge, guitar.

Berge and Brundtland began recording as Aedena Cycle in Tromsø, Norway, early 1990s; released EP Travellers' Dream, 1994; rejoined in Bergen, Norway, in 1998 as Röyksopp; released Melody A.M., 2001, and The Understanding, 2005.

Awards: MTV Europe Awards, Best Video for "Remind Me," 2001.

Addresses: Record company—Astralwerks Records 104 W. 29th St., 4th Fl., New York, NY 10001, website: http://www.astralwerks.com. Website—Röyksopp Official Website: http://www.Röyksopp.com.

The vocal effect, as well as every other element of the record, caused the Boston Globe to comment that The Understanding "eludes any kind of easy classification." The album met with wide critical praise. Writing in Rolling Stone, David Swanson said that "if the band's previous album … evoked the early-morning afterglow of a night out clubbing, The Understanding captures that night that just won't end."

Selected discography

(As Aedena Cycle) Travellers' Dream, R&S/Apollo, 1994.
Melody A.M., Wall of Sound, 2001.
The Understanding, Wall of Sound/Astralwerks, 2005.

Sources

Periodicals

Boston Globe, July 15, 2005.

Remix, August 2005.

Rolling Stone, June 30-July 14, 2005.

Spin, August 2005.

Online

"Melody A.M.," BBC, http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/dance/reviews/royksopp_melody.shtml (September 8, 2005).

"Röyksopp," All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com (September 8, 2005).

"Röyksopp Interview," Barcode, http://www.barcodezine.com/Röyksopp%20Interview.htm (September 8, 2005).

Additional information for this profile was obtained from Astralwerks publicity materials, 2005.