You certainly know the duo Royksopp, but some might overlook the charming accompanying maiden. Robin Miriam Carlsson, known as Robyn, is one of the leading pop performers in the Swedish and Scandinavian scene, with a career spanning multiple years. She is responsible for cross-Baltic hits such as With Every Heartbeat (produced by the renowned Kleerup), Be Mine!, Dancing on My Own and Time Machine. The Body Talk trilogy, released in convenient EPs in 2010, features delightful electronic tracks capable of balancing Nordic charm (I recommend diving into the works of Loreen - Heal - and Emmelie De Forrest - Only Teardrops, winners of the Eurovision 2012 and 2013) and flirting with international mainstream producers: names such as Klas Ahlund, Max Martin, and Diplo, known butlers of Madonna, Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Christina Aguilera, P!nk, and M.I.A. have indeed presented themselves at Robyn's court.

Do It Again, a mini-album of only five tracks, follows the instrumental asceticism of Senior, as well as the retro-synth flood of Junior (where Carlsson featured as a featured artist in the magnificent The Girl And The Robot) and has been presented by the duo as a sort of appetizer to an upcoming new musical phase of greater breadth. However, this appetizer foreshadows a Lucullan five-star Michelin meal: in a tiny and seemingly bypassable sonic pentagon, the Royksopp concentrate a kaleidoscope of energy, sensations, moods, freshness, richness, genuine electronics, passion, and heterogeneous harmony, managing to blend their entire catalog presented so far, from the ambient dreaminess of Poor Leno, Eple, Beautiful Day Without You and Only This Moment to the already mentioned 80s explosion of The Girl And The Robot, as well as keeping afloat a genre subjected in the last quinquennium to a terrifying Russian roulette of club hits and repetitive ibiza-like and pseudo underground profusions.

Monument, the opening track of the EP, is a strong contender for the best electronic track of 2014: a little fairytale at the synthesizer, where the ambient-chill-out sweetness of the bleeps and Robyn give the listener almost ten minutes of sonic asceticism. And if this listener had already prepared the colorful slippers, jasmine tea, and wool blanket with a mischievous eye directed at the window moistened by the beating rain, they will have to pull out the shoes of Saturday Night Fever in techno-dance sauce at the first notes of Sayit  and Do It Again (one of the most successful singles of this somewhat sleepy first semester, proven evidence of how a fantastic club track can be pulled out without disturbing the likes of Guetta, Calvin Harris, will.i.am, RedOne and varied cacophonies). Wind of romantic ballads, not excessively sweetened, for the concluding Every Little Thing and Inside The Idle Hour Club, the latter without Robyn’s vocals and an evident reassembling of the quiet and peaceful puzzle of Senior.

Royksopp and Robyn: the best of the synth frontier and the best of Scandinavian pop, with nothing to envy from Anglo-American and Latino colleagues. Balance in the sonic artifice, a damnedly perfect union with the "voice lender" (and here I gladly bring back that gem of Monument), technical skill to lick one's lips over, a shrewd recovery of the past, and clever use of the synth mayonnaise blender between placidity and semi-aggressiveness. And if the Crodino+chips+olives+salatini royksoppian work, we have nothing left but to set a beautiful wedding table, awaiting the Nectar and the Ambrosia (and roasted potatoes) that will be served to us (hopefully!) in the months to come. God save Scandinavia.

Royksopp & Robyn, Do It Again

Monument - Sayit - Do It Again - Every Little Thing - Inside The Idle Hour Club

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