At the beginning of the nineties, Tromsø was
famous for nothing else than being one of the most northern
towns in the world, and as good an observation point
for Northern Lights phenomenon as any other in the region.
Since then, Tromsø has seen its electronic scene
developing at considerable speed, with Geir Jenssen’s
Biosphere being
the most famous export.
Back in 1993, when Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein
Berge were still at school, they used to borrow electronic
instruments from their local music shops, and started
experimenting. Two years later, they sent a tape to
Geir Jenssen, who
put them in touch with Belgian label Apollo. After releasing
an EP under the Aedena Cycle tag, the pair lost contact
for a while, and met again a couple of years ago in
Bergen. This time, they had in mind to combine the classicism
of Erik Satie and the melodies of soundtrack composer
Philippe Lai with the warm analogue sounds of the seventies
and the electro-pop of the eighties. Röyksopp was
born. After releasing a handful of singles on Bergen-based
Tellé label and working on with the cream of
Nordic music, including Those Norwegians, Dream Island
and Kings Of Convenience, the duo was snapped by Wall
Of Sound. Melody A.M. alternates between breezy
instrumentals and inspired vocal tracks. The beautiful
Sparks, with its gorgeous vocals courtesy of
Bel Canto’s Anneli Marian Drecker, evokes the desperate
melancholy of Portishead, while Poor Leno,
second single to be lifted from the album, sees Kings
Of Convenience's Erlend Oye
take control of this intimate sunset disco-house delicacy.
Elsewhere, Röyksopp push their cinematic compositions
into chill-out mode, with Eple, A Higher
Place and Röyksopp’s Night Out leading
the way. Although composed on ice-cold grounds, these
tracks seem more adapted to the lazy late Mediterranean
shores. Röyksopp conclude this album with She’s
So, a magnificent deep chill track, on which a
saxophone hovers gently, and 40 Years Back/Come,
a strangely broken piece, which seems to be made up
of most of the sounds and atmospheres found on the rest
of the record.
Melody A.M. is a very convincing debut, and
has been receiving rave reviews across Europe. The Norwegian
duo creates some beautifully crafted pieces of music,
coherent with each other, and yet, surprisingly independent.
5/5 |
