Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 04/05/05
Label: Wall Of Sound

Coming out of nowhere with "Melody A.M." back in 2001, Royksopp seemed like the happiest accident dance music had chanced upon in years. Everything about the Norwegian duo was unlikely. That music from such a bitterly cold place could exude such fantastic digital warmth, that thousands would then rush out and buy a record barely blessed with a marketing penny and that such gentle music should find its home on Big Beat label, Wall of Sound.

Well, they're still on Wall of Sound, still high on the Glastonbury bill and, erm, still pursuing the sonic equivalent of slipping into a nice goose-down parker and pulling on your favourite wholly hat. However, the Nordic connection - or alleged 'Bergen Scene' - is starting to look less like a collective of likeminded electro-futurists (albeit chilled-out ones) and more like a place where they haven't yet figured out nobody gives a sh*t about Air these days.

For the most part, "The Understanding" saunters along without a trace of urgency, which is unfortunate as Royksopp were always at their best when electronic ingenuity rather than pastel-shaded synth washes were holding things up. The smartest tracks, like "Circuit Breaker" - the sort of UK garage influenced electro that Attica Blues were making before anyone had heard of "Melody A.M." - and the analogue slither of "Sombre Detune", have little for company on this record.

"Triumphant" comes on like a Casio keyboard preset labelled "Beethoven by Bill & Ted" until some cymbals, Rick Wakeman and the choir from "The Omen" finally arrive to wake you up. "Beautiful Day Without You" is classic DJ Pierre, but on Mogadons. "Only This Moment" has a crack at updating "Eple" and is matched in lyrical banality by "49 Percent" - which may or may not be about Pret A Manger retaining a controlling interest in its destiny after selling a chunk to the chicken fat hawkers at McDonald's.

Perhaps everyone is so chilled out in Bergen that this sort of stuff is a way of life, but over in the UK people seem to have noticed that few things going on in the world right now give much occasion for chilling. Thankfully, there are bands out there, consciously or otherwise, reacting to our circumstances. 'Chillout', it seems, was a moment in time and unhappily for Royksopp, one that's passed.

    by James Poletti