Atmospheric electronics make for mesmerizing music
Röyksopp, the Norwegian atmospheric and electronic music duo, just released their latest album, Profound Mysteries III. The album combines the two genres into a very enticing listen, with airy electronic over intense, dancey rhythms.
“So Ambiguous” starts the album off with a minor-key mood, and a relaxed beat playing underneath synths. The tempo is slow and the tone is ominous. The strings that enter around 1:40 are beautiful and add a peaceful and even hopeful tone later on. The second song is “Me and Youphoria.” With a dance-pop style, Royksopp’s underpinning rhythm is in a signature style of theirs. The vocals and overall mood are light and slightly poignant. Next up is “Stay Awhile” with Susanne Sundfor, a softly sung, sad song about cutting out the noise and spending time with someone we love.
The fifth song on the album is “Lights Out” featuring Pixx. This song is one of the slowest and most instrumentally minimalist on the album, and the lyrics have a dark undertone: “Lights out / We won’t be home tonight / Let the river carry us around the bend.” “Speed King,” which is next on the album, is almost like a soundtrack to an intense movie, with sound effects and distorted vocal effects.
“Just Wanted to Know” featuring Astrid S. is a song with a catchy pop chord progression played with bubbly instrumentation. The lyrics are “just wanted to know, are you letting me go.” The last song on the album is called “Like an Old Dog” and also features Pixx. It is a darker song than the others, and uses a different technique of repeating a single line of vocals “like an old dog” many times as it fades out, which is something not featured on the rest of the album. The technique seems to want to really emphasize the meaning of the theme. This song also features poignant, cinematic strings and a shaker rhythm underneath a plucked bass. The beat is disco-like.
Many of the songs on this album use similar instrumentation, but each song brings its own style and feeling to the album. The album is an enjoyable and never-boring listen, featuring many artists and vocal and musical styles.
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