When Röyksopp announced in early 2009 that they had completed recording two albums, and that they were to be companion pieces and were set to be released within six months of each other, no-one would have guessed that it would have actually taken a year and a half for the latter to finally be released. After spring 2009’s Junior (a lukewarm celebration of Röyksopp’s pop-tastic, fun-loving side) things seemed to suddenly go silent in regards to the follow up.
In a press release earlier this year, Röyksopp appealed to fans who had been patiently awaiting news of Senior. Making references to the state of the music industry, Röyksopp apologised for having promised the album last year and not delivered, before finally giving a firm date for the album’s autumn release, and that they hoped album would be worth waiting for.
This strange and sad drawn out process for what should be a relatively straight-forward task of releasing an album has flavoured Senior with a tangible quality, as if the struggle has been embodied and locked with the tracks themselves. With no vocals anywhere, an emphasis on the album experience rather than on a song-by-song basis and an incredibly melancholic feel throughout, the release feels like a willful antithesis of the way the internet has driven music consumption. And it works, brilliantly.
The album produces an over-arching score and story, yet importantly the tracks themselves feel self-contained. This quality is apparent in every single track, often denoted by the carefully picked track titles, each one telling its own story - The Alcoholic opens with the fizz of a can opening and bounces along to a high-pitched synth chorus, complimented by melancholic guitars and warped, distant bird sounds. Later, near the end of the album, The Fear offers long held keys and a slow thud-thud-thud beat that conjures shadows over the album’s final movement. Each track picks up from where the last left off, offering the next musically narrated chapter.
As intended, no particular track stands out as from the rest (with the exception perhaps of The Drug, which offers the closet thing to a danceable beat) and the concept that ‘each track is equally as important as its predecessor and successor’ is beautifully achieved.
It’s the spacey, sci-fi swansong of A Long, Long Way that offers the most introspective moment on the album, and makes you realise just how close it is to a perfectly balanced, true representation of the band and their intentions. The finality of this last track, as it conjures up images of clear, desolate night skies and an acute aching for times bygone, sounds as if it could be not just the final chapter on the album, but possibly the band.
Painfully sad at times, this is without a shadow of a doubt Röyksopp’s finest, most accomplished hour, and one of the most interesting releases of the year thus far.
Tracklisting:
1 ...And The Forest Began To Sing
2 Tricky Two
3 The Alcoholic
4 Senior Living
5 The Drug
6 Forsaken Cowboy
7 The Fear
8 Coming Home
9 A Long, Long Way