My full text review will appear on Consequence Of Sound soon and I promise you that my own unedited version, which is of a more emotional rollercoaster ride nature, will be posted here as soon as it is published on Consequence Of Sound.

Until then you’ll have to do with my track-by-track review, something that doesn’t harm Röyksopp’s Junior at all.

Röyksopp - Junior Rating: 4.5/5

1. Happy Up Here (2:43) Rating: 3.5/5
Contains a sample of “Do That Stuff” by Parliament.
It’s in the lightweight class in Junior. It’s short, snappy faux-pop electro that borrows bleeps from Eple. Some have stated that it borrows more than that. This is not the case. The two tracks share very few similarities. Happy Up Here was “playing-safe” single that left a lot to the imagination for Junior. That ticked me off and amused me at the same time.

2. The Girl And The Robot (4:28) Rating: 4.5/5
Features Robyn on vocals and Anneli Drecker on backing vocals.
That majestic intro with the chorus chanting beside wobbling electro synths is great and the effect is thrilling when Robyn’s sweet but here very tough and confident voice kicks in. She sings about being lonely at home while her “robot” of a husband is at work all the time. It’s one of the more dancey tracks with a relatively fast-paced underlying bass rhythm.

3. Vision One (4:59) Rating: 4.5/5
Features Anneli Drecker on vocals.
Anneli Drecker displays her vocal range from the darker jazzy side to the lighter poppy side. Mostly it’s on the sweet, celestial side of things as Svein and Torbjörn sugars her already gossamer voice in a beautiful melody that somehow reminds me of my 90s childhood. What can I say? I’m an MTV-generation’s baby! The distorted bassline here twists and squirms like a worm underneath Drecker’s performance in a way that reminds me of Róisín Murphy’s Overpowered. What can I say? I’m an adolescent in the 2000s!

4. This Must Be It (4:41) Rating: 4/5
Features Karin Dreijer-Andersson on vocals.
This is the first of Karin Dreijer-Andersson’s appearances, which are welcome contrasts to the other girly voices on Junior. Someone described it as a runaway horrorshow. I’d like to add: disco glitter runaway horrorshow! An enticing but not brilliant melody, especially in the haunting falsetto chorus, I must say.

5. Röyksopp Forever (4:59) Rating: 4/5
Contains a sample of “Suites For My Baby” by Skylark.
I don’t consider Triumphant to be one of their better songs. So how can I like Röyksopp Forever as I do? Well, at least their self-celebrating pathos features nice chord progressions and key changes that borders on Air territory. And I’m never late to celebrate the immaculate production qualities of the Norwegian duo! Go Röyksopp 4EVAH! <3

6. Miss It So Much (5:01) Rating: 5/5
Features Lykke Li on vocals.
As for now, Miss It So Much is my favourite track. It’s all thanks to a melody that once again hails from the 90s according to me, but this time it seems Röyksopp dressed up an amoebic structure of post-R’n'B in a cute electropop outfit. The result is stunningly beautiful and awfully charming. O, I get the feeling Lykke Li is sitting in her enchanted girl room while the rain is pouring outside the window, fingering on the dial. She sings “My mechanical heart, how it tears me apart” which adds a little mystery into the track as well. Fine pop art that would make Warhol go bananas on Solanas.

7. Tricky Tricky (5:59) Rating: 3.5/5
Features Karin Dreijer-Andersson on vocals.
The biggest disappointment and my least favourite track. It’s obvious that Röyksopp like to play around and I’m sure that they take it all from their own heads. But these synths sound similar to the synths from Karin’s own masterpiece Like A Pen or just about any shabby electrohouse B-side from the 2000s. The boys haven’t really got a clue where they were heading with this track, even though they surely had a lot of fun making it. Karin’s vocals and lyrics are mostly strained to give the track a more poppy feel but can’t hold up the mediocre facade. But what still makes this track acceptable is Röyksopp’s production skills and musical talents that can turn any bad idea into a somewhat enjoyable track. You gotta give that to them, they’re great!

8. You Don’t Have A Clue (4:33) Rating: 4.5/5
Features Anneli Drecker on vocals.
Yet another track with Anneli Drecker on fabulous vocals (she appears on no less than 3 or 5 tracks depending wether you count backing vocals or not), quite similar to Vision One. But it’s an even better example of how Röyksopp have conjoined Melody A.M.’s laidback ambient electronica and The Understanding’s majestic, poppy and danceable qualitites into a desirable fusion. Once again there’s wonderful melodies reminscing of the 90s. Well at least they are to me, OK?

9. Silver Cruiser (4:36) Rating: 4/5
Notably, this is the only track without guest vocals OR any samples. It does features a string section arranged by Davide Rossi, but that doesn’t count, no matter how beautiful it is. It starts off really simple with a guitar (something quite unusual and exciting for RYXP, don’t you think?) and a subtle beat and then developes gradually into a beautiful instrumental ambient piece that would’ve fitted perfectly into Melody A.M. or the end of The Understanding as a possible replacement (or counterpart if you like) and worthy equivalent of the piano piece Tristesse Global.

10. True To Life (5:50) Rating: 4.5/5
Features Anneli Drecker on vocals.
This is another feverishly dreamy pop track, similar in atmosphere to This Must Be It. As the previously named track, it has a nice flow due to the delicate percussion that seem so right in this time and era. But it’s not as hastily “runaway” which lends Röyksopp more time to work on some of the most breathtaking harmonies, and we’re talking in a JUNIOR context here. It’s also a great example of how Röyksopp let their unorthodox pop songs grow as time goes by. The songwriting has been patient and attentive to the qualities of the material they’ve worked with. The result is an album of pop songs that often stretch up to, or beyond, the five minute mark. This is utterly liberating for the listener in its own right, while these songs at the same time have artistic values in terms of moods, melodies, beats, rhythms and various production tricks to revel in. It’s a pure delight and True To Life is an excellent example of that.

11. It’s What I Want (3:11) Rating: 3.5/5
Features Röyksopp on vocals and Anneli Drecker on backing vocals.
A simple pop song about wanting to keep things easy. “All that I want is keeping it easy. It’s what I want, that’s easy. It’s getting it that’s complicated.” is repeated throughout. A perfect lyrical roundup of a phenomenal album but perhaps a bit blaha blaha as a pop track. It ends with a mishmash of compressed synths coming up to the surface through the silence at the end of the actual song… just to end abruptly. It’s a nice way to say “The album is over. BUT. BAMBAMBAMBAM. TO BE CONTINUED.” We all know it’s gonna be the more “mature” Senior, which I’m looking forward A LOT to, of course.

Let me just remind you that these ratings are by Röyksopp standards. The Bergen-based duo play in a league of their own so just that you know that I love them even if they would’ve put out an album of 2s and 1.5s. I could put it this way: Junior may not contain Röyksopp’s best (my favourite) tracks, but it’s certainly their best (my favourite) album. Now, how confusing is that? Just so you know

OK cya till next time! Thanks for reading!

BONUS: The Junior Bonus tracks!

Röyksopp - Across The Graveyard

Röyksopp - Were You Ever Wanted