Röyksopp
Junior

THE REVIEW

After a debut that was nothing short of brilliant (Melody A.M.) and an equally sizzling follow-up (The Understanding), the Norwegian duo Röyksopp sought to encapsulate – so to speak, the two musical "faces" of their initial duo, mostly expanding and enriching them with the deserved mastery of the Scandinavian electronic professors. From this emerged the current latest double act of the duo, Junior and Senior, bound together in a creative, chronological link, almost evoking the "carefree" and "serious" roles suggested by their respective titles. If Senior represents the mature, introspective, severe, complex, and elaborate side, the counterpart Junior reflects a kind of cheerful and carefree "play" with the synths and with the dance context in general: on one side, it introduces a tour-de-force of instrumental tracks, lost in the chill-ambient ocean, rustlings, and sounds of nature boxed in the creative artifice, on the other stands a substantial lineup of much easier vocal electropop productions, danceable, commercial (but not plastic, bland, and standardized), a mirror of the desire to rediscover the flower of synthpop and the illustrious master-legends from the most hidden beginnings.

Junior, released in 2009, explores - as already mentioned - the poppish, boisterous, frivolous, festive, and jovial side of the esteemed Röyksopp company (unlike the dreamy-spectral atmospheres of the challenging Senior, offered the following year), perfectly timed moreover with the explosion of the mass electronic phenomenon and the various glossy yet damn retro Lady Gaga & company. Starting from the iconic The Girl And The Robot (released as the second single and featuring Swedish colleague Robyn), the best corollary of everything that the fluorescent & multicolor Eighties have offered - and continue to offer - the album is a real dive into the past, a rediscovery of the genuineness of the magnificent decade and its representatives, the time travel forged in the most vintage vintage possible.

Despite lacking the complex avant-garde of Melody A.M. and the complete dialectic between vocal tracks and instrumental pieces in The Understanding, Junior nevertheless rises to a rightful evolution of such an artistic and creative path, a worthy continuation (or bifurcation, if anything) of the genuine "turn" towards poppish tendencies undertaken in several moments post-debut. Along with the already mentioned gem The Girl And The Robot, the album offers further moments of sound retro pleasure, among which stand out the very funky Happy Up Here, a semi-reminiscence of the trip-hop tones already the duo's heritage, the techno-robotic diversions of Vision One and the disco-innocence conveyed by Miss It So Much. Curious is the pseudo instrumental 1980s theme Tricky Tricky, aligned with the Pet-Shop-Boys inspired This Must Be It, the ambient-chill out residues in Silver Cruiser, the breezy electro-glitch True To Life and the synth ballad You Don't Have A Clue.

Pleasant, sweet, simple, fresh, and carefree, Junior reveals the "easy" and less committed and virtuoso side of Röyksopp, a pop-revival exam passed with high marks, proven proof that diving into the dance-electronic combo does not always equate to garbage, sonic distortion, and today's mix of bass. Should Röyksopp be giving lessons to their jaunty DJ colleagues, who are far too familiar with the charts and mass easygoingness?

Röyksopp, Junior

Happy Up Here - The Girl And The Robot - Vision One - This Must Be It - Röyksopp Forever - Miss It So Much - Tricky Tricky - You Don't Have A Clue - Silver Cruiser - True To Life - It's What I Want