Heute beschenkt euch der Bedroomdisco Adventskalender mit einem exklusiven Interview. Und zwar mit Röyksopp!
Sie sind die Pioniere der elektronischen Musikszene Norwegens. Mit “Junior” haben Svein Berge und Torbjørn Brundtland dieses Jahr ihr drittes Album veröffentlicht. Wie gewohnt finden sich auch auf dem neuen Album wieder hochkarätige Features: Robyn, Lykke Li, Karin Dreijer Andersson und Anneli Drecker. Am 1. November traf ich Svein Berge kurz vor ihrem Konzert in Berlin.

1. You recorded two albums – “Junior”, which is already published, and “Senior”. What kind of sound can we expect on “Senior”? What is the concept behind “Junior” and “Senior”?

A few years ago we got the opportunity to go on tour. So our lifestyle became kind of hectic and frantic. It became hard to find room to do all these things we wanted to do. But now we are more on top of things, we know how everything works and we are more relaxed. That’s why we have the energy and time to do this amount of music. We feel that we have two main music outlets: one of them being most present on “Junior”, this useful energetic pop music, with “Senior” we show the other side – what we like to do – it is more atmospheric, less about the energy of beats and completely without vocals. It is the good old concept of ambient albums that Brian Eno introduced at some point in the 70s. It will be out in February hopefully. It has to be winter otherwise it will lose its whole thing. We do not expect commercial success with “Senior”.

2. How would you describe the evolution of your sound from “Melody A.M.” till now?

Sound wise Melody A.M is very grimy – Torbjørn, Bjørn Torske, a DJ from Norway and me, lived in a very small flat in Bergen, with a kitchen, a small living room and one bedroom. Basically we were sitting one top of each other. We had one Atari and a keyboard, the compressors we had and the sound desk were kind of cheap – you can hear it, it is rich in Sound but it is poor at the same time. The music technology has developed with the years so our soundscapes are probably more in your face, a bit more pristine and more clear.

3. You worked with great musicians in the past. „Poor Leno“ with Erlend Øye was very successful, as well as your current singles with Robyn and Karin Dreijer Andersson. It seems, as if you prefer to work with Scandinavian Acts. How do you choose your guest singers?

We have three main criteria. First, the vocal capabilities – we are looking for identity in the voice, which all our features have. Second, the creative input is very important. All of these singers are composers themselves. They all write music, are creative and they are not afraid of telling you where they want to go. The third thing is that you need to get along. That is always a risk because you never really know a person until you spend some time with them. But we’re been lucky because all of these people are brilliant and we are friends with them.

4. Is there a musician you would love to work with?

Vangelis, he is simply fun. He is probably really old now, but that would be great: to have a keyboard solo by Vangelis. That would make me complete as a human being. We already had contact with his lawyer. But he exists in a league so far beyond what we are doing and also in terms of the rock-history. Even his lawyer has to call him Maestro which shows that he may be full of himself which makes it more intriguing.

5. What is your most favourite place in the world?

I have never been to Africa, so I have to say that but I’m really a fond of Japan, Ōsaka and Tokyo. I think that has to do with my fascination of bright lights. And also how American or western pop culture has been adopted by the Japanese, especially in big city like Tokyo. I also like Stockholm and Berlin. Berlin is very nice, specially the clubbing.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAWdBJ-yVAk