Track Listing

1. Triumphant
2. Only This Moment
3. 49 Percent
4. Sombre Detune
5. Follow My Ruin
6. Beautiful Day Without You
7. What Else Is There?
8. Circuit Breaker
9. Alpha Male
10. Someone Like Me
11. Dead To The World
12. Tristesse Globale

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5732 in Music
• Released on: 2005-07-12
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
Special edition of the second album by the Norwegian electro duo. Comes with a bonus CD which will feature rare tracks.

Amazon.com
In 2002, the Norwegian duo of Svein Berge and Torbjorn Brundtland found a sweet spot between wispy Moon Safari-style pop and Boards of Canada-like atmospherics on the widely-admired Melody A.M. The Understanding sounds relatively absent-minded, careening around the room like a panicky fly. Some of it works well; the bouncy "Only This Moment" resembles Fischerspooner at their silliest (and thus, most fun), while "49 Percent" gets a huge lift from a New Jack vocal courtesy of Chelonis R. Jones. But the record is too often thwarted by syrupy synth-pop ("Follow My Ruin") as well as the lack of shifty downtempo rhythms and avant-garde underpinnings that kept Melody so pleasantly grounded. They haven’t lost their knack for subtle hooks and well-placed cross-rhythms, like the slippery keyboard squibble that glides its way into "What Else Is There?" But the sophomore curse is hard to overcome, and though there’s plenty here to recommend, Berge and Brundtland aren’t able to break the spell. NOTE: The limited edition version of the record includes an all-new 5-song B-Side EP. –Matthew Cooke

Pitchforkmedia
8.1 out of 10

Customer Reviews

Only this moment
After 3 years since the release of "Melody A.M", Royskopp finally follows up with "The Understanding". "Melody A.M" was a delight to listen to. It was one of the best chill out albums I had heard that year. I was hoping that their next album would be just as good and I was right. I found "The Understanding" just as good as their first album. I loved the percolating electrnoic beats and the lush melodies that also could be found on the group's first album. "The Understanding" kicks off with the haunting melodies of "Triumphant". I immediately fell in love with the combination of trip hop beats and fragile piano melodies. The cd continues to get better with the electro-clash lite track "Only This Moment". It had a good beat. One of the few weaker tracks on the album is "49 Percent". I'm not really into r&b music so I couldn't get into the smooth, r&b vocals by Chelonis R. Jones. The highlight of the album for me has to be track 7 "What Else is There?". I just loved the vocals Karin Dreijer. It is another great dance track on the album. It was nice that Royskopp picked up the beat on "The Understanding" without totally ditching their laid back grooves that most people fell in love with. I haven't been able to stop listening to "The Understanding". It has quickly become the soundtrack to my summer.

Synth Pop the Royksopp Way.
On their 2001 debut, "Melody AM," Norway's Torbjorn and Svein Bergem of Royksopp raised the bar of downtempo electronica with such tasty confections such as "Eple," "Sparks," and "So Easy." But on "The Understanding," they just simply want to make you dance. The grooves are harder, edgier, and darker than what we've come to expect, but the sound is still very much Royksopp. If you're looking for a chillout disc, this ain't the one. It's a radical departure from its predecessor, so fans should be warned and proceed with a degree of caution and an open mind. A welcome surprise is "49 Percent," which hits you hard with a stuttering beat and an unexpectedly soulful vocal from Chelonis Jones. It's easily one of my favorite tracks. "Sombre Detune" and "Someone Like Me" helps give the disc a funky edge. Other standouts include the lush and ambient "Dead to the World," while "Beautiful Day Without You" is a classic piece of synth pop. Every song here is good, except perhaps for "Alpha Male," which unfortunately wears out its welcome within 4 minutes of its 8 minute running time. Beyond that, it's one of the most engaging electronic records of the year.

Pure Norwegian Bliss...Get the repeat button ready!
I originally heard of the Norwegian group Royksopp when visiting Amsterdam. I had MTV Europe on in my hotel room (MTV Europe actually still plays music, what a concept!) and I saw the video for "Poor Leno" and was instantly hooked. Of course, when you hear a song so instantly infectious to your ears, you think, how the heck can they possibly follow this up?

The answer is "The Understanding," an absolute gem of a disc that builds on the bands beginnings and takes their music one step beyond, creating swirling cinematic melodies coupled with beautiful, emotive, yet understated vocals. The first single and video, "Only This Moment" is sublime. (Be sure to check out the video online at the Astralwerks website.) The song is plaintive, emotional, melancholy, and at the same time "funky", albeit in a Norwegian Electronica sort of way.

I have had this disc for two weeks and it has yet to leave my CD player. Call it electronica, dance, downtempo,or whatever you like... this music is gorgeous and cinematic. Music based in electronica can sometimes be cold and inaccessible, but Royksopp know how to put emotion in their music. Royksopp's music is rather hard to categorize... Let's call it "Norwegian Bliss".

Note: The limited edition 2CD set is worth the extra few dollars! It includes bonus tracks, mainly instrumental, unavailable elsewhere.