Röyksopp’s new album Junior is one half of a two-album duology; the other half is  Senior, due for release later in the year. According to the Norwegian duo’s Torbjørn Brundtland, if the former is “wearing sneakers and a stripy t-shirt”, the latter is “wearing a tweed jacket and smoking a pipe”. Bruntland talks science fiction, Peter Pan and being frozen in the air above a swimming pool with a fascinated Tom Hawking.

It seems to me there’s an interesting theme running through Junior – the idea of  analogue vs digital, organic vs artificial, etc.

Yes, somehow. That’s one of the angles. I wouldn’t agree that the album is about that, but somehow it’s become part of the theme for the album. It was not something that we have done deliberately – it’s just something that we went ‘Wow! OK.’

This is an interesting theme for an electronic band to address, because you rely on power and technology to make music.

Yes. We do have a large collection of analogue equipment, and we’re really fond of it. At the same time, we’re not afraid to use state-of-the-art digital software. The thing is that this software, everyone has. The analogue equipment, you can be sure that not many people have it. I think it’s a good idea to mix both. We feel that we get something in the music that has to do with identity if you don’t only use what everyone else has, if you find different sound sources.

The duality seems to tie in nicely with the feeling of the album. It’s quite varied – it starts out sounding happy, but some of it is quite dark.

I think we wanted to make something energetic this time, whether it was a happy energy or a dark energy. We just wanted to express something energetic. But still, [despite] some of the dark things on the album, I think we have made an optimistic album.

Tell me about the Junior/Senior concept.

It is something we have always had within us. Somehow, going back to when we were 12 or 13 – before we met and became friends, actually – we always felt old. But at the same time, we have been suffering from the Peter Pan complex (laughs). Not wanting to be old. This time around it has been expressed. It’s a concept, like the 70s concept albums. The concept is the duality. These albums express something different.

What do they express?

Junior expresses our optimism and youthful energy. Senior is where... well, there are no songs on Senior, in a traditional sense. It expresses inward-directed energy. If Junior is wearing sneakers and a stripy t-shirt, Senior is wearing a tweed jacket and smoking a pipe.

But there are some songs on Junior that seem quite nostalgic, too.

What particular songs did you have in mind?

The first track, ‘Happy Up Here’, seems to look to a more innocent time.

Yes. That is true. That song is a take on happiness, or happiness with a twist. [Other half of Röyksopp] Svein had this nice image in his head: imagine that you are at a party, and all your friends are there, and there is a swimming pool, and you have been standing on the diving board, and you’ve jumped. You’re hovering in mid-air. You’re doing a cannonball. Just as you are about to hit the water, all your friends are looking at you and smiling. Fireworks are going off in the background. That image was in our head, and ‘Happy Up Here’ is the soundtrack to that image.

Wow. That’s really fantastic.

Yes.


Röyksopp - 'Happy Up Here'


The other song I wanted to ask you about was ‘Silver Cruiser’. Your press release says that it’s about a “future utopia where technology is so advanced it’s almost invisible”. I think that’s also a really beautiful idea. Could you tell me a bit about that?

Yes. We like a lot of science fiction and possible future scenarios, ever since we were kids. From time to time we talk about possible futures, and it seems nowadays everyone is talking about dystopian futures. It was nice to think a bit about utopian futures. We can easily see... I think it was Arthur C Clarke who wrote that ‘sufficiently advanced technology is totally indistinguishable from magic’.

Yes, it was.

We saw a future where technology was so advanced that it was not part of showing off technology any more. It’s just there, to keep people alive and help the human race. We can go back to being as we were, living in some forest again and all be safe. It’s like a non-polluting and non-energy-excessive technology, self-sustained and hidden. You know the cartoon Asterix?

Absolutely.

They have a wizard with white hair and a beard. There will be some people like that walking around – it will be their job to see that the technology is maintained, but it’s all hidden.

It is a very optimistic album, isn’t it?

Yes, we think it is (laughs).

Are you optimistic people?

We can be. Ever since we were kids, we have said we were. We are optimists about the things we can do something about. If there is any way we can affect the outcome, we are optimists. If there is something about which we cannot do anything, we are realists.