Röyksopp – Melody A.M.

Each month we take a look at a classic track or album and discuss it from a music production perspective, examining anything notable that took place during its recording. This month we investigate Röyksopp's million-selling debut album, Melody A.M.

Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland met at the ages of 12 and 13 and started making music together under various different names very soon after that. After a hiatus, while the younger Berge finished school and did 10 months of military service, the pair got back together and formed Röyksopp in 1997.

The recording setup for their first album was very simple, but Berge and Brundtland see that as more of a strength than a weakness. In an interview with DJ Mag, Brundtland details the simplicity of their equipment; 'The key was an Akai sampler, a really simple mixer and a reverb that somebody, not us, nicked from a radio station. That was the core of it.' He goes on to explain that 'when we talk to people, they expect us to have more special equipment than what we really have, which is sparse. And we love that. Limitations force creativity.'

Berge too loves working within certain limitations;  'we strongly believe that if we produce the music and choose the sounds that are not necessarily the obvious choices, it makes for something more interesting. As soon as you start opting for the obvious generic sounds, you become less interesting. Had we replaced the drum sounds in Melody A.M. with the TR909 drum machine, it would have been less interesting. Maybe easier to swallow for some people...'

Being forced into making these interesting choices was part of what made Melody A.M. sound so unique when it was released in September 2001, but the pair's disparate musical influences also helped them to stand out from the crowd. Berge again; 'The way we've always thought we should make music is to allow ourselves to be inspired by musical genres that are not necessarily related to electronic music.

 We are just as inspired by progressive rock and country music and R&B as we are by Detroit techno and deep house. For us, it's a matter of landing all these things together, without making the references so obvious that they stick out to make a very unpleasant mix. It's just a matter of finding the balance.'

The combination of unusual production choices, incongruent musical influences and an undeniable flair for melody truly set the duo apart and hastened their meteoric rise.