Norwegian good

“It changed our personalities completely,” says Torbjorn Brundtland of the critical acclaim heaped on Röyksopp’s debut LP, Melody AM. “We stopped hanging out with our poor friends.” Somehow I don’t think he’s serious.

Röyksopp (loosely translated as a mushroom that creates a cloud of dust when it explodes) are a Norwegian duo of electronica noiseniks, whose aforementioned release has been kicking up one hell of a storm. Although, according to Torbjorn, it hasn’t always been quite so highly appreciated on home ground.

“The music we’re doing doesn’t have a history of acceptance in Norway. But when we received the reviews we did in the UK press, it had a deep effect on our level of popularity at home. The pop star status doesn’t bother us though. It can be a little annoying, but it’s also cool to be recognised by people who like your music.”

Digital, tripping melodies and lo fi grooves are the record’s forte, decorated with synths and soundscapes and proudly boasting ’80s influences.

“I think the melody was what we really spent time on – to make the sound as alive as possible. To put emotion into every little bit of the music. Emotion is linked to certain types of melodies and certain types of harmonies. So we tried to create a sad drum beat or sound effect to extend that.”

“It isn’t that difficult to take to the stage,” he adds. “I think the challenge for us was to make it lively, to make it something that was actually alive, rather than just have everything sequenced and make the computers do all the work. The human touch is all important.”