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November 5, 2014

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Artist: Röyksopp
Album Release: ‘The Inevitable End’
Release Date: 10th November 2014
Label: Dog Triumph via Wall Of Sound and Cooking Vinyl

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Röyksopp will release their fifth and final album ‘The Inevitable End’ on 10th November 2014, through their own Dog Triumph via Wall Of Sound and Cooking Vinyl.

‘The Inevitable End’, is electronic music overlords Röyksopp’s second album release in the space of 6 months, following the critically acclaimed mini album and sell out tour with fellow Scandinavian legend Robyn ‘Do It Again’. ’The Inevitable End’ is their most personal album to date and features Jamie McDermott (The Irrepressibles), Ryan James (Man Without Country), Norwegian singer songwriter Susanne Sundfør and Robyn.

“With ‘The Inevitable End’ we’ve moved into a darker subject matter, with emphasis on the lyrical content. This candid approach feels very both personal, sincere and conclusive.” says Svein, “With this album it became clear we wanted to make an album in a classical sense even if it’s the last one we make,” adds Torbjørn.

Having now created five complete bodies of work, the pair feel like the future is open to being more experimental with how they share their music.

“We feel like this is a goodbye to the traditional album format,” explains Svein. “In our consecutive run of albums, we have been able to say what we want to say and do what we want to do with the LP. We’re not going to stop making music, but the album format as such, this is the last thing from us.”

Röyksopp are one of the biggest electronic acts in the world winning 7 Norwegian Grammys (Spellemannprisen) and 5 Norwegian Music Prize Awards (Alarmprisen), as well as nominations for Best International Group at the Brits and Best Remix at the Grammys. They have had 4 number 1 albums in Norway and ‘Do It Again’ debuted at number 14 on the Billboard 200 marking the highest album chart position ever for a Norwegian artist. Röyksopp have headlined some of the biggest festivals in the world and played the Hollywood Bowl three times. They are sought after remixers and have remixed for the likes of Coldplay, Lady Gaga, Kings of Leon and Depeche Mode.

Since they first burst onto the scene with the release of their classic debut album ‘Melody A.M’ in 2001, Röyksopp have only released three further studio albums. First came 2005’s more experimental ‘The Understanding’, then 2009’s extrovert, pop-lead ‘Junior’ followed swiftly by its more introvert sister album, ‘Senior’. That was back in 2010. Four years later, however, following a burst of creativity instigated by personal upheaval they released ‘Do It Again’, and now their final album, the multi faceted ‘The Inevitable End’.

The title also relates to the album’s core themes of loss (emotional and physical), the passing of different eras in people’s lives and the effects of conflicting emotions, themes that are showcased exquisitely in ‘Monument (T.I.E. Version)’, the epic collaboration with Robyn that acts as bridge between ‘Do It Again’ and The Inevitable End’. Re-worked for this album, its power is even more magnetic.

“I think it’s fair to say that the two records are dwelling on the same themes. This album has a strong lyrical content and I think that’s more evident than on any of our other albums – I guess writing songs and working closely with Robyn has had an effect,” says Svein. “Without being too gloomy or dark, there’s been turmoil in our lives. And prior to making ‘Do It Again’, Robyn was in a similar space, which is one of the reasons why we’re so compatible.”

With the two records being worked on simultaneously, ‘The Inevitable End’ may share a similar headspace to ‘Do It Again’, but this is very much a quintessentially Röyksopp album, even if that definition is itself brilliantly malleable.

“We’re always looking to push certain boundaries, but there’s something there that’s been there all the time and that binds it altogether,” explains Torbjørn. “We’re not keen on repeating ourselves.”

So while the opening track ‘Skulls’ feels like a classic Röyksopp song – all squelchy bass lines, filtered synths and vocodered, yet soulful vocals – the album also takes in sophisticated, delicate heartbreak on the Man Without Country collaboration ‘Sordid Affair’; odd, shape-shifting ambience on the Robyn-featuring ‘Rong’; bouncing electro pop on the deceptively upbeat ‘Save Me’ (featuring Norwegian singer songwriter Susanne Sundfør) and the deliriously sad, cry-on-the-dance floor classic, ‘I Had This Thing’, one of four collaborations with Jamie Irrepressible. In fact, as with all their albums, the importance of picking the right vocalist for each song was paramount.

“We always want to find the right voice matching the specific sentiment of a track,” states Svein. “And the people we’ve been fortunate enough to work with, are people who not only possess brilliant vocal abilities individually – they also in their own unique way, bring their own universe with them,” he continues. “We are inviting them to collide their universe into ours. It’s not about having a voice for hire. We want the people we work with to feel like they can involve themselves to the fullest – it’s about finding the perfect voice for our state of mind,” adds Torbjørn.

At the core of the album is this universal sense of conflicting emotions and choice; in pursuit of fulfillment, how far can you go? Should one heed one’s conscience or succumb to one’s desires – albeit the moral ramifications? And then there is doubt and denial. And the battle between reason and desire, that is summed up perfectly on ‘I Had This Thing’ as Jamie softly flits between the lines “I still don’t know just what I’ve done”, and the emotional final mantra of “I never meant to let you go” while a cavalcade of electronic textures descends around him. But while the lyrics deal with darker themes, this isn’t a musically introspective album. This is a cohesive, fully realised electronic symphony from a pair of production geniuses constantly looking to innovate.

‘The Inevitable End’ tracklisting:

1) Skulls
2) Monument feat. Robyn (T.I.E. Version)
3) Sordid Affair (Ryan James, Man Without Country)
4) You Know I Have To Go (Jamie McDermott, The Irrepressibles)
5) Save Me (Susanne Sundfør)
6) I Had This Thing (Jamie McDermott, The Irrepressibles)
7) Rong (Robyn)
8) Here She Comes Again (Jamie McDermott, The Irrepressibles)
9) Running To The Sea (Susanne Sundfør)
10) Compulsion (Jamie McDermott, The Irrepressibles)
11) Coup de Grace
12) Thank You

Single and tour to be announced.

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