Röyksopp

Norwegian duo Röyksopp have experienced massive international success with their very own genre of electronic pop music since the release of their first vinyl single, "So Easy," in 1999. Their often somewhat quirky, but always rather sweet, songs have made Röyksopp into one of the big names of European electronic pop music for the last twenty five years. Their hits and album releases have felt like essential events, featuring formidable guest vocalists like Robyn, Susanne Sundfør and Lykke Li, matched by some truly classic remixes for vastly different artists like Depeche Mode, Beck, Lady Gaga and Coldplay. Röyksopp's unique music videos have garnered millions of YouTube views, the band possesses a strong visual identity that also runs through their fun and expansive live concerts. The first four Röyksopp albums all went straight to the top of the charts at home in Norway, and their great popularity in the U.K has contributed to their position at the vanguard of Scandinavian electronic pop music.

Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge, both grew up in Tromsø and began recording together in the early '90s. Local-turned-ambient legend Geir 'Biosphere' Jenssen provided tutelage for the duo and almost convinced them to sign for R&S sub-label Apollo. After a few years apart, Brundtland and Berge met up again in Bergen and re-formed Röyksopp in 1998. The pair released a few singles on Norwegian imprint Tellé, before signing to the UK label Wall of Sound. The success of singles such as "Eple," "Remind Me" and "Poor Leno" – the latter two songs both featuring Erlend Øye – helped make their debut album Melody AM (2001) one of that year's defining worldwide releases. In the coming years, the band released four more full-length albums, the more introspective and experimental follow-up album, the masterful LP, The Understanding, in 2005, and not least with the tandem album releases Junior (2009) and Senior (2010) including collaborations with Swedish pop stars such as Lykke Li, Karin Dreijer and Robyn. With the latter, Svein and Torbjørn also made Do It Again, an excellent EP which was transformed into a joint tour of Europe and North America.

Following the release of their fifth album, The Inevitable End, Röyksopp were seemingly finished with albums in the traditional sense but continued to work on various projects. These included the music for Kafka feat. Röyksopp, a 2015 comedic theatrical production based on the work of Franz Kafka, and a series of jingles for the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK's TV news division. In 2016, Röyksopp contributed to the Star Wars Headspace compilation with the track "Bounty Hunters" and also issued another Sundfør collaboration, entitled "Never Ever." Three years later, Röyksopp launched Lost Tapes, a monthly series of rarities and previously unreleased tracks from the vault. Lost Tapes later saw a physical vinyl release collating the first ten tracks in the series.

In 2022, Röyksopp marked their return to the album format in a grand way with a year-long conceptual campaign of releasing music, art, fashion and film under the banner of Profound Mysteries. Separated out into three parts, Profound Mysteries saw Röyksopp poke at the conventions of an album campaign, comprising 30 tracks which each had their own individual artefact, short film and full length visualiser. Both the artefacts and visualisers formed part of an overall visual world themed around, and beyond, a trefoil symbol developed by Svein and Torbjørn in collaboration with celebrated artist Jonathan Zawada. This world was expanded further with a series of short films undertaken by Scandinavian production house Bacon, their roster of directors given free reign to interpret the music from Profound Mysteries as they saw fit.

Musically, Svein and Torbjørn have stated Profound Mysteries features "reoccurring themes such as love & loss, despair & reconciliation, all wrapped up in an esoteric nod to those artists and genres that shaped us in our formative years." Key collaborators old and new featured across the three parts, with regular sparring partners Susanne Sundfør and Jamie Irrepressible offering several highlights, alongside fresher names in the Röyk-verse in Astrid S, Pixx, Karen Harding, Maurissa Rose, and Alison Goldfrapp.

Towards the end of 2024, Röyksopp released Nebulous Nights – An Ambient Excursion Into Profound Mysteries, a surprise album-length ambient reinterpretation of the aforementioned triple-LP project. Speaking of the release, Svein and Torbjørn stated: "Outside the pure listening pleasure, Nebulous Nights seeks to underline the importance of critical thinking and curious pondering. To foster a mindset that allows for exploration and personal growth, by not limiting one's imagination and inquiry to a particular worldview or framework. Encapsulated succinctly in this quote by Albert Einstein: 'The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all art and science. To whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.'"

2025 finds Röyksopp expanding on the True Electric live concept they had toured throughout the post-Profound Mysteries period with both a DJ tour and an album of the same name. The latter is due for release on April 11th and "consists of recordings and renditions, meant to capture the essence of our live shows. The idea was to put an emphasis on the clubbier aspects of our music, as well as returning to our roots within the realms of electronic music."