Röyksopp

Norwegian duo Röyksopp brought a warm and inviting approach to downbeat music that allowed them to outlast the electronica surge of the early 2000s and rank among the most lasting electronic acts of their era. Early recordings such as “Eple” and “Poor Leno,” along with the 2001 debut album Melody A.M., merged house, R&B, and IDM atmospheres with more conventional downbeat textures, while a rotating cast of guest vocalists further broadened their range. The group achieved major success at home, where their first four albums all reached the top of the charts, and also found international audiences, attaining a mainstream high point in the late 2000s through the guest-filled Junior of 2009 and its reflective instrumental counterpart, Senior, released in 2010. Although they stepped back from conventional album cycles after issuing the majestically melancholy supposed farewell The Inevitable End in 2014, Röyksopp kept releasing material through singles, mixes, and compilations such as the 2021 collection Lost Tapes, before returning to full-length projects in 2022 with the ambitious three-volume series Profound Mysteries I, II, and III.

Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge, both raised in Tromsø, first connected through a mutual friend during their early teenage years. Their common passion for electronic music prompted them to start recording in the early ’90s. Local artist Geir Jenssen, better known as Biosphere, offered guidance, and during this period Berge and Brundtland joined two other musicians to form Aedena Cycle. That group’s 1994 EP Traveler’s Dreams appeared on the Apollo sublabel of R&S, and Jenssen nearly persuaded them to commit to a full contract with the imprint. Aedena Cycle soon dissolved, however, and after several years apart Brundtland and Berge reunited in Bergen, where they established Röyksopp in 1998. A pair of singles for the local Tellé label—“So Easy” in 1999 and “Eple” in 2001—led the duo to sign with the British big-beat imprint Wall of Sound. The label reissued “Eple,” and that track together with “Poor Leno” secured placements on more than a dozen chillout compilations throughout 2001 and 2002.

Röyksopp’s debut album, Melody A.M., arrived in September 2001 and broadened their polished blend of trip-hop, disco, and electronic pop while showcasing vocal appearances by Erlend Øye and Anneli Drecker of Bel Canto. The record enjoyed enormous popularity in Norway, topping the albums chart, earning platinum certification, receiving a Spellemannprisen for Best Electronic Album, and later being named the best Norwegian album of the 2000s by the nation’s largest newspaper. Melody A.M. also registered internationally, attaining platinum status in both the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, where it produced several Top 40 singles. In the United States it climbed to number 18 on the Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart, and the single “Remind Me” gained additional exposure through a widely aired Geico car-insurance advertisement. The video for “Remind Me” earned a Spellemannprisen and an MTV Europe Music Award in 2002, and the following year Röyksopp received a Brit Award nomination for Best International Group.

Brundtland and Berge devoted the next several years to live performances and remixes for artists that included Beck and Annie. They resurfaced in July 2005 with The Understanding, which favored more traditionally structured songs and featured vocals from Chelonis R. Jones, Kate Havnevik, and Karin Dreijer of the Knife. Dreijer appeared on the single “What Else Is There?,” a Top Five hit in Norway and a Top 40 entry in the United Kingdom. The Understanding extended the commercial reach of Melody A.M., once again reaching number one in Norway, debuting at number 13 in the United Kingdom (where it was certified gold), and peaking at number two on Billboard’s Top Electronic Albums chart in the United States. Röyksopp concluded this period of success by collecting another Spellemannprisen for Best Pop Group. The live EP Röyksopp’s Night Out, which contained a cover of Queens of the Stone Age’s “Go with the Flow,” surfaced a year later, followed in 2007 by the duo’s contribution to the Back to Mine series. Berge additionally served on the board overseeing the Grieg year, a centennial commemoration of composer Edvard Grieg’s death. In 2008 Röyksopp marked their tenth anniversary by posting the track “Happy Birthday” on their website.

Beginning in 2009 the duo launched an ambitious two-album endeavor. Junior appeared first in March, an upbeat collection that reunited them with Dreijer and Drecker while adding Robyn and Lykke Li to the roster of guest vocalists. Balancing the stylistic directions of Röyksopp’s prior releases, Junior became their third consecutive number-one album in Norway, reached number 21 in the United Kingdom, and marked the pair’s first entry on the Billboard 200 Albums chart in the United States, also appearing on the Top Electronic Albums and Top Heatseekers charts. The Jean Elan remix of the Robyn-featuring single “The Girl and the Robot” earned a nomination for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical at the 52nd Grammy Awards. Senior, an instrumental album of comparatively restrained tone, followed in September 2010 and secured Röyksopp’s fourth straight number-one position in Norway, number 33 on the United Kingdom chart, and number 18 on the Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart in the United States. Six tracks from the album were incorporated into the short film Röyksopp’s Adventures in Barbieland.

Brundtland and Berge resurfaced in June 2013 with their installment of the LateNightTales series, which included a cover of Depeche Mode’s “Ice Machine” featuring vocals by Susanne Sundfør. That December they rejoined Sundfør for the single “Running to the Sea,” whose B-side, “Something in My Heart,” was a collaboration with Jamie McDermott of the Irrepressibles. In May of the following year they teamed with Robyn on the Do It Again EP to promote a joint tour. November brought what was announced as Röyksopp’s final album. The Inevitable End established a dark yet energetic atmosphere and featured further contributions from Sundfør, McDermott, and Robyn. Although it was the duo’s first full-length to reach only number two in Norway, the album peaked at number 38 in the United Kingdom and number 103 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart in the United States—their highest placement on that ranking.

Even while Röyksopp appeared to have concluded their conventional album-making, they pursued a range of other projects. These encompassed the score for Kafta feat. Röyksopp, a 2015 comedic stage production inspired by the writings of Franz Kafka, and a sequence of jingles for the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK’s television news division. In 2016 Röyksopp contributed the track “Bounty Hunters” to the Star Wars Headspace compilation and released another Sundfør collaboration, “Never Ever.” Three years later the duo inaugurated the Lost Tapes series, issuing previously unreleased material from their archives each month throughout the year. Among the first selections was “Rising Urge,” followed by the Sundfør track “In the End,” which also featured Man Without Country. That same year they collaborated with Lars Vaular on the single “To minutter.” The Lost Tapes series continued until January 2021, after which the physical collection Lost Tapes appeared in September, gathering the first ten installments.

Röyksopp returned to the album format in striking fashion during 2022. Profound Mysteries, released in April, inaugurated an expansive project that encompassed a full-length album featuring vocalists such as Alison Goldfrapp and Beki Mari, together with an accompanying short film and music visualizer. The release proved to be merely the opening chapter of a three-album cycle; Profound Mysteries II arrived that August and, like its predecessor, paired its musical content with corresponding visuals while showcasing guests that included Astrid S, Karen Harding, Jamie Irrepressible, and longtime associate Susanne Sundfør. Profound Mysteries III completed the series in November and again drew from the established circle of Goldfrapp, Irrepressible, Sundfør, and additional contributors.