Röyksopp
Melody A.M. (Astralwerks) If Air is French for space-age electro-pop, then Röyksopp must be Norwegian for snow. Another laptop duo, Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge from Tromso, Norway, are Arctic Circle ice angels flitting about their dreamy confection of powered sugar and sighs. Spare, melodious, Esquilicious opener “So Easy” crystallizes the pair’s debut (a collection of old and new tracks) like frozen fauna, acting as a mere teaser for rooty-tooty follow-up “Eple.” A swirl of swooshy sounds envelopes Melody A.M., but blizzards are kept to a minimum, the better to isolate rudimentary musical figures best kept away from children: They’d play this till you were purple in the face. Blarney. There’s a few snooze-button rollovers — five arid minutes of “Sparks” paired with the empty “In Space,” and later “She’s So” boring. Happily, “Poor Leno” is insidiously cute ‘n’ cuddly, though its accompanying video on the bonus disc (two mixes apiece of “Remind Me” and “Poor Leno,” plus three clips) screams PETA! The somnolent “A Higher Place” and seven and a half heady minutes of “Röyksopp’s Night Out,” a utopian wash of beats and bleats reimagining Superfly as Atanarjuat, culminate in “Remind Me,” another delicate web of Air-y boy-swooning. Melody A.M., sweet dreams are made of bliss.
This article appears in November 22 • 2002.
