Tag: Röyksopp (Page 4 of 4)

SUSANNE SUNDFØR Fade Away

3 December 2014 /

The Nordic vocalist of the moment has to be Susanne Sundfør.

First coming to wider attention following her appearance on M83′s ‘Oblivion’, she has since collaborated with fellow Norwegians RÖYKSOPP and Swedish producer KLEERUP. Her cover version of DEPECHE MODE’s ‘Ice Machine’ with the former showcased her emotive vocal style.

Meanwhile her contributions ‘Running To The Sea’ and ‘Save Me’ to ‘The Inevitable End’ are two of the highlights on an album that has been touted as RÖYKSOPP’s last ever. Meanwhile on ‘Let Me In’ with KLEERUP, she is in a livelier if still melancholic mood, sounding like Karin Park fronting latter day ROXY MUSIC.

With the announcement that Susanne Sundfør’s fifth studio album ‘Ten Love Songs’ is to be released on 16th February 2015, comes the video for its brilliant first single ‘Fade Away’. Propelled by a pulsing electronic backbone, it sees Sundfør in rousing form with a tune that at times sounds almost like Scandinavian gospel. Meanwhile, a fabulous synth solo is a joy to behold before the final bridge and chorus. The enigmatic video itself is a foggy Nordic Noir drama that suitably compliments the song.

Susanne Sundfør’s last album ‘The Silicone Veil’ was her UK debut and featured the moody single ‘White Foxes’. However, the ‘Ten Love Songs’ album sees her move closer to pop territory. Indeed, she has cited Taylor Swift as an influence on this new direction although the music is continually subverted as her experimental inclinations blur the pop picture.

“To me, love isn’t always what it seems. When I first started to work on the album, I wanted to make an album about violence, and then, as I was writing the songs, there were violent aspects, but they were usually about love or relationships, how you connect with other people. And in the end, that turned out to be 10 love songs” says Sundfør. The album should be an intriguing listen.

With thanks to Debbie Ball at Create Spark

‘Ten Love Songs’ is released on 16th February 2015 by Sonnet Sound / Kobalt

Susanne Sundfør plays The Scala in London’s Kings Cross on Tuesday 3rd March 2015

http://susannesundfor.com/

https://www.facebook.com/susannesundfor

Text by Chi Ming Lai
3rd December 2014

RÖYKSOPP The Inevitable End

3 November 2014 /

Royksopp-TheInevitable-artWith a typical gap of 4-5 years between most of their albums, RÖYKSOPP fans would certainly feel like its birthday and Christmas arriving all at once with the release of ‘The Inevitable End’.

The new collection comes hot on the heels of the ROBYN collaboration mini-album ‘Do It Again’.  In the accompanying press release, ‘The Inevitable End’ (the clue’s in the title) has been announced as the final RÖYKSOPP album, although one half of the duo Svein Berge explains that “We feel like this is a goodbye to the traditional album format… we’re not going to stop making music, but the album format as such, this is the last thing from us”.

So with that intriguing signing off statement, how does ‘The Inevitable End’ sound? The overture to the album ‘Skulls’ combines a swung rhythm pattern with spiky analogue synth percussion and unlike most of the other album tracks, relies exclusively on heavily vocodered vocals, almost an evil twin to those much loved by DAFT PUNK. ‘Monument’ first made its appearance on ‘Do It Again’ in an epic 10 minute incarnation featuring AIR-like textures and live sax, but the version here is more energized with an edgy octave-jumping bassline. The lyrics “this will be my monument, this will be a beacon when I’m gone” take on a deeper significance bearing in mind the intention of this being (potentially) RÖYKSOPP’s swansong…

The MAN WITHOUT COUNTRY collaboration ‘Sordid Affair’ recalls THE BELOVED with its restrained and lush synthetic textures, the bitter-sweet lyrics recalling a doomed love affair, heartbreakingly soundtracked with a beautiful descending sixteen note melody. Jamie McDermott from THE IRREPRESSIBLES takes vocal duties on a third of the album tracks, ‘You Know I Have to Go’ is the aural equivalent of taking the central section of 10CC’s ‘I’m Not in Love’ and stretching it over 7 and a half minutes, whilst the more uptempo ‘I Had This Thing’ introduces a 4/4 kick drum into the proceedings but again features another melancholic vocal motif over a chord progression recalling ‘Do It Again’.

Susanne Sundfør, who vocalled RÖYKSOPP’s superb cover of ‘Ice Machine’, guests on ‘Save Me’ which conjures up a blend of Giorgio Moroder’s ‘The Chase’ combined with one of Timbaland’s productions with his trademark gated “du-du-dah” synth chord present throughout.

‘Rong’, the other track to showcase ROBYN, is pretty bizarre, a short two minute track who’s main vocal hook is “What the f*** is wrong with you?”… and at this point in the album (if you hadn’t clocked it before) the realization kicks in that this really isn’t going to be an uplifting party album. The other Susanne Sundfør song ‘Running to the Sea’, which was a single last year, is a more piano-led track which builds to a snare driven climax, yet still retains the overall wistful and downbeat atmosphere of the tracks that preceded it.

The album ends with the instrumental ‘Coup de Grace’ and then ‘Thank You’, the latter’s vocoder eerily echoing ‘Europe Endless’ with the vocal hookline providing a fitting closing melody of gratitude to a person or person(s) unknown – it could be speculated this is parting gesture aimed at their fans, but the interpretation is left to the listener to make their minds up as to who the recipient is.

In summary, this is a VERY introspective album, if you are going through any sort of emotional turmoil, then ‘The Inevitable End’ is a pretty hard ride from start to finish. There are glimmers of light here, but the overriding ambience is that of despair, heartbreak and desolation, but wrapped up in some really beautiful downbeat electronic textures.

The ‘Marmite’ factor is also provided by Jamie McDermott’s vocals, listeners will either love the downbeat crooning or will quite possibly be reaching for some LEONARD COHEN for some light relief… it will certainly be interesting to see what RÖYKSOPP do next.

They have certainly left behind a superb body of work, from their early chilled out selections through to the more electronic pop direction of their ROBYN collaborations. Whatever pathway they choose to take next, they will surely be followed by those with an interest in quality electronic music, and despite the downbeat album title, this may be ‘The Inevitable End’ of one era and the start of a new one…

‘The Inevitable End’ is released by Dog Triumph through Wall Of Sound and Cooking Vinyl in CD, vinyl and download formats on 10th November 2014

http://royksopp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Royksopp

https://twitter.com/royksopp

Text by Paul Boddy
3rd November 2014

KLEERUP As If We Never Won

15 October 2014 /

Kleerup-As-If-We-Never-WonHaving delivered one of the best synth based debut albums in recent years, musician and producer Andreas Kleerup is back with two new mini albums, the first of which is entitled ‘As If We Never Won’; the second set to be released sometime in 2015 while a full length album is to follow afterwards.

Seven years between albums is a long time even by today’s standards but Kleerup has been busy with his own, more conventionally focussed band ME & MY ARMY who released their debut album ‘Thank God For Sending Me Demons’ in 2011, the soundtrack for the Stockholm Stadsteatern’s production of the Swedish opera ‘Aniara’ and incidental music for Eurovision 2013.

Any new KLEERUP recording now lives with a high degree of expectation following the stupendous 2008 self-titled debut that included noteworthy singers like ROBYN, LYKKE LI, MARIT BERGMAN, NENEH CHEERY and Cherry’s sister TITIYO in its full expanded edition.

The EP’s launch single ‘Let Me In’, featuring Susanne Sundfør who sang on M83′s ‘Oblivion’ and RÖYKSOPP’s cover of DEPECHE MODE’s ‘Ice Machine’, moves away from the dreamy synth melancholy of the ‘Kleerup’ debut and delivers a more organic template, sounding like KARIN PARK if she had joined ROXY MUSIC to record ‘The Space Between’ from ‘Avalon’. It is a superb calling card, showing progression but retaining the original appeal of KLEERUP’s debut. ‘Let Me In’ is brilliantly classic and yet still very contemporary.

Opening proceedings though is ‘Sad Boys’, a beefier version of the more tranquil ‘Northern Lights’ issued last year as interval music for Eurovision 2013. A vibrant but emotive instrumental in the vein of ‘Hero’ from the ‘Kleerup’ debut, live drums give some syncopated punch which appears to be the main change in the KLEERUP sound after the distorted machine beats of its predecessor. ‘Nothing Left To Die For’ sees Jenny Wilson, formally of FIRST FLOOR POWER, in a deliciously melancholic disco romp with her haunting vocals accompanied by some pretty synth tones. Despite the sadness, like with ‘Sad Boys’, there is a wonderful groove that reveals Andreas Kleerup’s roots as a drummer.

Meanwhile, the pace mellows for ‘Rock U’ featuring Malin Dahlstrom of NIKI & THE DOVE. The witchy growl that featured on ‘DJ, Ease My Mind’ and ‘Mother Protect’ is omnipresent in this more guitar focussed rock ballad that sounds like a Nordic CYNDI LAUPER, not entirely surprising as Kleerup produced her song ‘Lay Me Down’ for her great comeback album ‘Bring Ya To The Brink’ and which eventually morphed into ‘Thank You For Nothing’ on the ‘Kleerup’ album.

Kleerup by Mats BeckerThe pace slows even further with the ‘As If We Never Won’ title track, a stark but epic ballad with Kleerup himself moodily duetting with Maja Ivarsson from THE SOUNDS. It takes a while to get going but evolves into something more satisfying with each listen. And in a nod to his ME & MY ARMY project, the EP finishes with ‘Thank God For Sending Demons’ in a raw, stripped down version of the original. Coming over a bit like JOHNNY CASH if he had been born near the Arctic Circle and with just an acoustic guitar for company, it is however the least essential number of this short set and can only be really be considered as a charming, if slightly incongruous filler.

Overall as a taster for the next KLEERUP album proper, ‘As If We Never Won’ contains a number of fine songs and is a welcome pop return for one of the best electronic music producers in Europe.

‘As If We Never Won’ is released as a download EP from the usual digital outlets via Warner Music

http://kleerup.net/

https://www.facebook.com/kleerupmusic

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Kleerup Portrait by Mats Bäcker
15th October 2014

RÖYKSOPP & ROBYN Do It Again

24 May 2014 /

The dream team of RÖYKSOPP & ROBYN have worked together before with ROBYN guesting on the 2009 single ‘The Girl & The Robot’ and then the Norwegian duo produced ‘None Of Dem’ for her 2010 ‘Body Talk’ project.

This time around there are five new tracks to appreciate which range from the more adventurous/experimental (‘Monument’) through to out-and-out dancefloor electronica (‘Do It Again’) and with two tracks clocking in at nearly ten minutes, you are given value for money with the music on offer here.

The mini-album opener ‘Monument’ is an epic and lush introduction, the track starts in a fairly traditional electronic song format, a two chord pattern building hypnotically with ROBYN imploring a lover to “make a cast of my body”, and then seven minutes in, like a film with a major plot twist, the track takes an unexpected detour – rolling live drums and a live saxophone (which recall French act AIR) come centre-stage and take the track to an atmospheric conclusion.

‘Say It’ starts more like a traditional dance-floor electronica track, based around a rising, almost Kraftwerkian bassline with sharp as a knife 909 hi-hats driving the track along. Nowhere near as song-based as ‘Monument’, ‘Say It’ comes across more like a remix, at its heart an intriguing conversation set up between ROBYN and what sounds like a vintage Speak and Spell unit. This dialogue transforms what could have been a pretty standard electronic dance track into something which has a much greater depth and substance.

Standout track and new single is ‘Do It Again, this is the sort of electronic dance pop track that MADONNA would give her muscular right arm for, the MADONNA comparison goes a bit deeper with lyrics suggesting an almost updated ‘Into the Groove’ concept with ROBYN intoning “Wait for the build-up” before we “Do it again”, lyrically suggesting the scenario of a typical club track. The song also sees the welcome return of a retro-vibed gated synth chord stab which recalls the classic Jam and Spoon remix of ‘The Age Of Love’.

‘Every Little Thing’ and ‘Inside The Idle Hour Club’ slow the tempo down after the more energetic earlier numbers. The latter is an entirely instrumental piece with almost classical MICHAEL NYMAN-style textures on top of an extended ambient piece.

In a climate jammed full of identikit female-fronted electro-pop, ROBYN still has an instantly recognisable vocal and the link-up with RÖYKSOPP really makes this an irresistible combination.

Both the music and vocal production are faultless throughout and the only real shame is that this just a mini-album rather than a full-length one.

Those left wanting more can console themselves with the possibility of seeing both acts on their upcoming co-headline tour which the official RÖYKSOPP website promises will give each act a separate spot and then join each other on stage for their collaborative works.

‘Do It Again’ is released by Dog Triumph through Wall Of Sound and Cooking Vinyl in CD, vinyl and download formats.

http://robyn.com/

http://royksopp.com/

Text by Paul Boddy
24th May 2014

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