WATCH: Royksopp Release New Video For “Skulls”

The Blair Witch Project meets a sexy and fiery cult party in a cabin in the rain and Royksopp does the music. Step into this eerie and erotic world of weird.

There is an evil determination in this new music video released by Norwegian electronic music duo Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland. The song, “Skulls”, is the first song on “The Inevitable End“, which the duo has declared will be their last LP, though they have stated that they will not stop making music. The album, which was released on November 7th by Dog Triumph, sold more than 4,000 copies in its first week in the United States.

The album employs an overall dark and brooding palate, which is reflected heavily in the video. It is shot in black and white, and there are blurry close up shots that are sometimes indistinguishable, and are sometimes globs of nasty boiling goop, and are sometimes cracked paint on ceilings. The effect is thematic, and creates its own world through which the duo can rule and influence their audience with lyrics like “we will be the hands that lift you up and we will be the hands that strike you down”, “and we will be salvation in the flood”; one could make the suggestion that through the last bit of the song, whose music is strikingly similar static to the intro to the television series American Horror Story, while they are drawing runes and wearing ceremonial robes, that their image seeks to create it’s own cult of power. This may be a stretch.

The two model types sporting heavy black eyeliner and pouty faces add an eroticism to the video, which makes it all the more intriguing and shocking, if you boil it down to its elements which seem to be darkness, flames, decay, and hyper-sexualization. The audience is definitely left wondering where the cabin is, and whether or not they could get there. The music and the aesthetic of the video match each other wonderfully, and one moment that sticks out in self-awareness is 20 seconds in, when the screenshot above was taken, as they ride in the car with their group of would-be devotees or companions in mischief and cultish performance. It is a great way to say goodbye!