When Svein Berger and Torbjørn Brundtland told the world in 2014 that The Inevitable End was more than just the title of their latest album but equally a metaphor for predicting what would happen to the album as a format, it seemed at the time more than reasonable. Simultaneously announcing that it would also be their last time messing with doomed long players as a thing, it felt like a chapter very much being closed.
Not that the duo were retired, as the shared frustrations of the pandemic aside, Royksopp have hardly since been letting up, releasing the Lost Tapes series of archive material, curating festivals and generally doing whatever electronic music producers do. Then came a new Instagram account in January 2022, accompanied by a statement that they were ‘crawling back’ to the old ways, in the guise of Profound Mysteries, a trio of releases which – ambitiously – would be themed around ‘the unknowability of the universe’.
The final part of the triptych,…III finds the pair once again navigating the line between beachwalking ambience, gauzy cosmictronica and luxurious Scandi pop, the latter facilitated by some high end collaborators. But as much as Alison Goldfrapp and Susanne Sundfør threaten to steal the show on The Night and Stay Awhile respectively, it’s Astrid S that gives the R&B of Just Wanted To Know some perfect low-key bounce. Elsewhere Speed King and closer Like An Old Dog move more into sonic cathedral territory, but taken as part of a series or just standalone, Profound Mysteries III is proof that the album is dead, long live the album.
You can read a full review here.
The Voice Of Unreason 