Röyksopp

They are well-known for their iconic single “Eple” from 2001’s “Melody A.M”, with its space-age blips sampled from Bob James’s 1975 tune, “You’re as Right as Rain”. “Eple” reached No. 16 in the UK charts. “Poor Leno”, the third single off the album also got them considerable success, with a No.5 spot on the US charts.

The duo is Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland, who met when they were kids and began experimenting with electronic music before breaking into the fledgling Scandinavian techno scene of the 1990s.

Bergen had become the hub of the early dance scene, so the two relocated to get on board what was to be known as the “Bergen Wave”, a grassroots renaissance of up and coming indie and electronic acts including the Kings of Convenience, electropop DJ, Annie, and house producer, Bjørn Torske. In this early scene, Röyksopp began to make their first serious recordings before breaking out with their first international single, “So Easy”, which gained them some coverage with its use in a T-Mobile ad in the UK, and was later re-released on “Melody A.M”.

Since then, they’ve released a string of highly successful albums including 2005’s “The Understanding”, 2009’s “Junior”, 2010’s “Senior” and their latest 2014 effort, “The Inevitable End”.

Recently they’ve erupted with the single “Do It Again”, featuring Swedish electropop diva and frequent Röyksopp collaborator, Robyn. It is the titular track off their extended play with Robyn released in May, 2014, which features Robyn’s standout vocals and inspired lyricism over the top of Röyksopp’s driving dance beats, ranging from perambulating minimalism in the 10+ minute instrumental tracts, to scuzzy house, to pumping techno-pop. The track “Do It Again” itself is a premium manufactured electropop package of the kind that both Röyksopp and Robyn have been known for producing in their respective careers.

The release was backed by an epic tour across Europe, the States and Australia and sets the stage for the release of “The Inevitable End”, which itself features two collaborations with Robyn. Sadly, the writing is on the wall: they have announced that this is their aptly titled (probably) last album, but have hinted at pursuing other avenues. Time will tell what’s next for Röyksopp.