Maddog’s Foreign Correspondent Robbie Stevens was in Istanbul recently, and was able to meet Röyksopp in a hotel just off Taksim Square. Röyksopp are on their summer tour promoting their magnificent new album Junior, which was released in March of this year. In their own words it is a representation of their ‘energetic side’ with songs that are ‘to the point’ and ‘rhythmic, whilst catchy… hopefully’.

Svein Berge and Torbjorn Brundtland first hit acclaim in 2001 with their debut album Melody AM, one of the most acclaimed releases of the year, and the soundtrack to every party comedown ever since. In 2002 the success of songs like Poor Leno and Eple gave them UK Top Tens, and provided numerous interior design programmes and adverts with their soundtracks. Since then, the duo released a follow-up: 2005’s The Understanding, which didn’t quite do as well as its predecessor. You may have thought they’d slipped out of the business, but when I met them they still seemed driven and excited by music.

The modest electro outfit feel that their latest release is the most positive and optimistic album that they have made and with it they wanted to show the many different sides of themselves to old and new listeners. Junior is part of a conceptual dual release, and their next album being Senior (set to be released this winter) will contrastingly demonstrate their more introverted and geriatric side. They have also dressed accordingly on tour with state of the art trainers and neon clothes. They inform me that the Senior album may bring tweed jackets and pipes so look forward to that Röyksopp fans!

They were in Istanbul to headline this year’s Efes One Love festival, which is held yearly in the campus of one of Turkey’s biggest Universities. It’s a small festival with no camping but the atmosphere was great and Röyksopp really worked the crowd. They played many hits from previous albums such as The Understanding and Melody A.M. I queried the band on how they found Istanbul and also what they thought of England. They told me that their bass player is very interested in The Turkish capital so he showed them around, and Torbjorn adds that it’s a place he could see himself living and making music in. They had their 2nd big break in England and hold the audiences there to be key to their success, having captured the attention of Wall of Sound records after releasing their debut vinyl. They inform me that they hung around with those guys for the insane party animals that they were.

 


  


I was also intrigued to find out where their very unique sound comes from and the history of Röyksopp. The fundamental part of Röyksopp’s sound, they tell me, is the city of Bergen, Norway. After already knowing each other, the pair met again there and rekindled their great passion for music. Torbjorn tries to describe their reasoning for the sound but finds it hard, he basically puts its down to an instinctive feeling, which they both felt and so they just went and did it. Their confidence in the music really shows through their new album Junior.

Röyksopp’s Norwegian upbringing and the types of landscapes surrounding them is also quite important in the music that they create. They were brought up in a small town in northern Norway and were exposed to arctic scenery. Those physical and cultural surroundings are obviously very important for Röyksopp’s unique sound and you can get a great image of the vast mountains of Norway whilst listening to their music.

To get their sound they tell me that less technology is used than one may think. ‘Maybe it sounds that way because of our preferences in sound, but I would say that the normal rock band in a studio session will use more music technology than us… our stuff is more old school and scrap… we use deceased machines.’ They use a lot of old analogue instruments and synths, in particular KORG. They also say that a lot of the stuff that people do not think of as electronic music is actually being produced at the moment with more state of the art, expensive technology then their music. There you have it, Röyksopp are lo-fi electro.

Röyksopp’s talent lies in updating the retro-futuristic sounds of the past, and this makes Junior perfect. While opener Happy Up Here reminds me of a very up beat theme tune to some sort of cartoon space hero. Pop star Robyn makes an appearance to lament having a cyborg boyfriend in the album’s first single The Girl And The Robot; Karin Dreijer-Andersson of The Knife and Fever Ray appears with a very unique vocal performance in Tricky Tricky and This Must Be It, while the delicate Lykke Li accompanies Miss It So Much. Junior is fantastic return for the duo. It’s the sort of album you could imagine sound tracking good times in life and shows that the duo are back on form.

Words > Robbie Stevens