Röyksopp emerged onto the post-millennial electronic music scene with the low-key and chilled-out Melody A.M. On 2005’s sophomore effort, The Understanding, Röyksopp experimented in some risky musical alchemy when they attempted to fuse beat-driven electronica with authoritative and sobering song-writing. On Junior, the Röyksopp duo—Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland—has jiggled the formula and added a liberal splash of contemporary Scandinavian singer-songwriter talent. As the album’s title would suggest, the result is an altogether more playful and frivolous affair. And right from the opening laughter and fairground rollercoaster beats of “Happy Up Here”, we have a serious contender for the feel-good soundtrack to summer 2009. But there is more to this third outing than cutesy electro-pop. The vocals counter with lugubrious sincerity—Robyn laments the futility of loving an automaton in “The Girl and the Robot”, Lykke Li is consumed with regret in “Miss It So Much”, and Karin Dreijer Andersson (The Knife, Fever Ray) yowls in her inimitably chilling style on “Tricky, Tricky” and “This Must Be It”. 

Junior is an addictive slice of disco-pop but unlike many offerings of its ilk, it’s an altogether more sonically robust endeavour. On “Röyksopp Forever”, the track expands and contracts to showcase just how seriously Röyksopp take their playtime. Later this year a more grown-up corollary entitled Senior will be released.

Tracks to download: Röyksopp Forever; This Must Be It (Also recommended: The Boys Noize remix of Happy Up Here).

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