The Inevitable End Royksopp Dog Triumph Three stars
Almost a quarter of a century after the Norwegian electronic duo Royksopp first began working together as teenagers, they've announced they're calling it quits with their fifth studio album, The Inevitable End.
They may not have retained the public profile achieved during their heyday with 2001's Melody AM, but there will be a few damp hankies in electronic-music circles at the news – and the album plays up to this with a heartstring-tugging sense of melancholy throughout. The opener, Skulls, conjures images of a chariot-riding Rick Wakeman straddling a giant synthesiser and leads on to suitably terminally titled tracks such as Monument, You Know I Have To Go and Thank You.
The album manages to stay just the right side of metronomic melancholy, without dipping into self-indulgent narcissism. Standout tracks are the Robyn collaboration Rong, the Ryan James-fronted Sordid Affair and, from the "prologue" disc (more prog nods), Goodnight Mr Sweetheart. Try not to be too sad – the band have added this cryptic caveat on their website: "We're not going to stop making music, but the album format as such, this is the last thing from us."
cnewbould@thenational.ae
