Here’s my personal review of Junior, which I wrote for Consequence Of Sound! Of course you can also read it in an edited version at Consequence Of Sound, a version which I’d like to call “The Lemur’s Junior Review (Consequence Of Sound’s Robotic Re-Edit)”. But that’s not as fun as the below version, which I’d like to call “The Lemur’s Junior Review (Original Emotional Rollercoaster Ride Mix)”. So enjoy as best you can!

The musical Gods know I and many more have waited long for Junior. Röyksopp, the Norewgian duo famous for creating the hooky electronica that became the darling choice of sound for every TV advertisement director and soccer clipshow artisan through the last eight years, have decided to kill their darlings so to speak. Their third effort Junior is a well-mannered and excellently raised lovechild of their two previous, outstanding albums: The Understanding and Melody A.M. As the hardcore fan I am of this phenomenal electronic pop duo, both you and I should know where this review is heading. I can let you know that it is headed where I have always wanted it to in the anticipation for Junior, it’s as simple and easy as that. It’s getting there that is complicated.

Junior, for all its loveable qualities, is mischievous towards me and doesn’t make reviewing one of my favourite bands of all time any less of a balance act than it already is. The short, sort of instrumental faux-pop groove of “Happy Up Here” is flourishing in its contemporary electro suit while borrowing bleeps from the fan-favourite “Eple” (some have stated the contrary, but there really is nothing more and nothing less borrowed than that). The lead single left a lot to the imagination when it was released before the album and leaves a taste of artsy chewing gum in your mouth. To also making it the opener was playing safe, to say at least, but far greater things were to come for sure!

Röyksopp made female guest vocals into an art form itself, even before Kleerup decided to walk down a similar path. Kate Havnevik was always my favourite guest singer because of the pop blasts “Only This Moment” and “Circuit Breaker”. She is not present on Junior but instead a handful of old and new faces grant their vocal styles to the majority of the 12 tracks on which the duo’s own vocal presence have been minimized.

Robyn and Lykke Li are two of the three (!) Swedish divas to be baked into the duo’s magical surroundings. The former appears on the dancey, lovelorn odyssey of 9-to-5 despair “The Girl And The Robot”, the former is sitting fingering sweetly but longingly on the phone while singing “My mechanical heart, how it tears me apart,” during the celestial and intriguingly disguised post-R’n'b tune “Miss It So Much”. Karin Dreijer-Andersson (a.k.a. ½ The Knife and Fever Ray), as a perfect contrast, submits her unique voice to the bolting yet dreamingly feverish “This Must Be It”. Unfortunately, she of all people with good judgement couldn’t tell her own masterpiece “Like A Pen” and her The Understanding-collaboration “What Else Is There” apart from the unaware electro-stomper mishap of “Tricky Tricky”. Without any additonal special effects on her voice she must try to bear up the threatening synths that sound like they could’ve come from just about any electrohouse B-side track of the 2000s, in a song that does not evolve into anything - not even a proper dance track!

Somehow in the end, I am still lead to enjoy even the dodgy “Tricky Tricky”, and I immediately shake off my doubt and point toward Röyksopp’s ability to produce a bad track into a good. In fact, Junior is one long showcase of production skills, tricks and entrepreneur spirit. They have never sounded so synthetic or coherent before. For Musical Christ’s sake, they might even worked around the whole TV advert issue, since most songs are fall towards the 5:00 mark and patient structure building is chosen over the immediate hooks that once got them hooked on the advert sound. At the same time as I think to myself that this is the most flawlessly and beautifully produced album I’ve heard since… well The Understanding I guess… it also breaks my heart to acknowledge the thought that crosses my mind and accept a fact that becomes obvious to me. Junior is a little bit overproduced, which has lead me to think that I won’t find as many future favourites in Junior as I did in their two previous albums.

But not much harm has been done, my friends! It’s barely that the singers, or listeners for that matter, understand just how delicately Röyksopp have forged chord progressions and key changes over electronic beats and basslines that draws influences from house, techno, electro… you name it! It’s almost impossible to hear how deliberately Röyksopp have added sweeteners to their mix of charming melodies, awe-inspiring harmonies and characteristically magical atmospheres. There’s definitely shiny surface, emotional depth, gratifying light and unassuring darkness all at the same time in each and every track.

As a great example, “Vision One”, featuring longtime collaborator and on this album frequently recurring vocalist Anneli Drecker and her flexible singing skills, twists and turns on top of a typical Röyksopp synth groove that indicates but does not conclude pure funk. Drecker’s voice is mixed with, if not auto-tuned, fitting into a vague 90s pop melody aura that seem to run through Junior. The track is also a splendid example from the album, as is the other Drecker-guested track “You Don’t Have A Clue”, of how the duo have found a balance between their more ambient electronica from Melody A.M. and the straightforwardly majestic, poppy and uptempo work of The Understanding.

If I would at least try to summarize this overwhelming review I’m trying to write here, I’d have to say that Junior might not contain Röyksopp’s strongest tracks, but paradoxically it is their strongest album. How confusing isn’t that? Frankly, I don’t know what I’m writing anymore. I have been listening to Junior six days non-stop and still don’t have a clue what is going on on record or elsewhere. I’m just so glad that all I know for sure is that Röyksopp still are to be considered the true masters of electronic pop. If the upcoming laid-back, ambient follow-up to Junior, Senior, will find Röyksopp in any sort of contemplation of maturity is yet to be heard. The Musical Gods know that it hardly gets much better than Junior anyway.

[Rating: 4.5/5.0]

Check out:

Röyksopp talk about Junior!

Röyksopp - Happy Up Here