Röyksopp

Norwegian electronic duo Röyksopp make downtempo music imbued with a warmth that contrasts with the chilly weather of their far-northern hometown, Tromsø. • Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland met when they were 12 and 13, respectively. After a brief collaboration as teens, they reconnected in 1998 in Bergen, then the center of a musical movement in Norway. • They began releasing singles in 1999, followed by their debut LP, Melody A.M., in 2001. The album was the first of four consecutive chart-toppers in Norway, and it reached No. 9 in the UK. • Songs from Melody A.M. popped up in TV advertisements and video games. The same held true for tracks from Röyksopp’s second album, 2005’s The Understanding: “What Else Is There?” appeared in the films Cashback and Meet Bill, while “Follow My Ruin” was included in the video game FIFA 06. • Röyksopp’s third album, 2009’s Junior, marked the duo’s first collaboration with Swedish singer Robyn, who sang on “The Girl and the Robot”. The album also features contributions from singers Lykke Li, Karin Dreijer and Anneli Drecker. • Röyksopp billed their 2014 LP The Inevitable End as the last time they planned to release music in “the traditional album format”. It was their first album not to reach No. 1 in Norway, peaking at No. 2. • Also in 2014, Röyksopp collaborated with Robyn on the EP Do It Again, a five-track collection that received a Grammy nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Album. It reached No. 3 in Norway and cracked the Top 20 on the Billboard 200 in the US. • In 2016, the duo composed music for Kafka featuring Röyksopp, a stage comedy based on the work of novelist Franz Kafka.