Röyksopp - TheUnderstanding

Thu 7th Jul, 2005 in Music Reviews

The highly anticipated second album from Norway’s Röyksopp has finally arrived in the form of The Understanding. A comparitively darker release than their first record Melody A.M., The Understanding nevertheless energetically bounces between bright pop compositions to more dance-oriented grooves. Röyksopp’s studio wizardry is again on display with their typically stunning collages of samples, sounds and beats. An eighties flavoured retro feel also imbues this release but it’s not too dense, thankfully!

Röyksopp members Torbjørn Brundtlan and Svein Berge have themselves comically commented upon this recent influence on their latest offering. “We needed to do something different… Something that was new to us, hence, the lyrical approach… We had to change our hairstyles though, we had to have bigger hair.” Their self-assigned envelope-pushing has paid off in spades with an enchanting second album.

This is beats-based pop with exceptional groove numbers interspersed among melancholy pop vocal numbers. It starts with the sparse yet dark opening track, Triumphant which slowly builds into a haunting crescendo with moog-ish doodlings scattered liberally on top. Röyksopp’s combining of certain sounds and samples to create quirky yet epic mood pieces is still very much finely tuned. Following this dark beginning is the considerably lighter Only This Moment with dual male and female vocals. The mood is saccharine and retro with a bouncy house beat.

This mood is extended into the next track, 49 Percent. The vocals are croony and accompanied by a very jaunty pace with interesting choices of sound effects spinning around in the mix. For example, there seems to be a sound which, to me, resembles a sheep through a vocoder! Sombre Detunes is an excellent soundscape wich marks a return to the darker tones of Triumphant. It flows like a minimalist dark trance number but without the excessive beats per minute or clutter.

Follow My Ruin and Beautiful Day Without You shifts back to quirky pop-mode with more heavily treated vocals. These pop offerings signify Röyksopp’s willingness to play around and push themselves into different realms with their music-making. It may not always be memorable but it is nonetheless interesting to hear. Where it most definitely pays off is in the captivatingly poppy tune What Else Is There sung by Karin Driejer from the Swedish band, The Knife.

Alpha Male is a frenetic dance number which builds in intensity as it rollicks satisfyingly along. Someone Like Me is another success in pop-styled quirkiness with a big dose of disco beats thrown in too. This is followed by Dead To The World and the closing track, Tristesse Globale. Dead To The World is a lush piece reminiscent of early Spiritualized dirges. The pace is slow but grand and the vocals are dreamy. Along with the short classically-influenced, Tristesse Globale, it makes for perfect Sunday morning music.

Melody A.M. was an instant favourite and one of the more impressive debut albums of 2002. The Understanding is much darker in mood but is pleasantly broken up by bright pop numbers. Not quite an instant favourite, The Understanding is definitely on its way to becoming a favourite nonetheless. A few more spins and that might not be too far away at all…