RÖYKSOPPJunior
(Wall of Sound)
**** (out of 5)
There were three things I especially liked about Röyksopp’s 2001 debut album Melody A.M.: their ability to craft bouncy melodies that somehow left a sad and lonely echo lingering in your head; their fondness for female vocalists with high, breathy voices; and this artificial, frictiony sound that popped up everywhere on their songs, halfway between a Moog synthesizer and someone sitting in a vinyl chair.
All those virtues are present on Junior, their third full-length album, along with a bigger, bassier sound than the occasionally thin, tinny Melody A.M. Just listen to the strings that swoop down in the middle of “Röyksopp Forever” — it’s as if Roy Hobbs just hit that game-running homer at the end of The Natural. Robyn and Lykke Li, the reigning darlings of indie-friendly Swedish bubblegum pop, both make welcome guest appearances — Robyn’s track, “The Girl and the Robot,” has pretty much the ultimate Röyksopp title. But it’s Anneli Drecker (who sang “Sparks” on Melody A.M.) who may be the duo’s perfect vocal collaborator: “You Don’t Have a Clue” and “True to Life” take Junior into new, thrillingly adult territory.
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