Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland’s final album as Röyksopp embodies their strengths and their weaknesses. The makers of Poor Leno and Remind Me are recognisably present, but so is the group that creates coffee-table electronica so ennui-laden that one feels the tiredness, boredom and despair descending as one listens. The former is represented here by two outstanding pop songs. Running to the Sea, featuring Susanne Sundfør, starts as one of those sleek, streamlined dancefloor numbers, builds gradually, then adds for its last minute – as if nothing could be more natural – a martial drum pattern that makes it jerk and shake. And Sordid Affair, sung by Ryan James of Man Without Country, is a deliciously melancholy piece of Scandipop. But there’s too much drift, exemplified by Robyn spending all of Rong singing: “What the fuck is wrong with you?” It’s a striking way to open a song, but by the fourth time becomes an irritant that has you thinking all concerned can manage something more thoughtful than this.
• Röyksopp’s Svein Berge and singer Robyn on work and friendship
