Facts about Röyksopp: Profound Mysteries II – Album – 2022
Artist: Röyksopp
Title: Profound Mysteries II
Country of Origin: Norway
Format: Album
Release Date: 19. August 2022
Label: Dog Triumph / Embassy One
Genre: Electronic
10 Tracks • 51m 26s
At Qobuz available in
24 Bit / 44.1 kHz Hi-res, Stereo
At Apple Music available in
16 Bit / 44.1 kHz Lossless, Stereo
For the German translation of
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Review
„Profound Mysteries II is a direct continuation of the first part. Recurring themes of love and loss, despair and reconciliation are wrapped in an esoteric nod to those artists and genres that have influenced us throughout the years.“ – Svein Berge & Torbjørn Brundtland
Röyksopp always loved it mighty fat and then please everything with a kick. An album was usually part of a project or at least part of a long thought in the minds of the creators Svein Berge & Torbjørn Brundtland. And so in the past, which has lasted with Röyksopp since 2001, there were usually mighty many remixes, sackfuls of intoxicating videos and other bits and pieces for the fans on top.
And they were always on the height of time and took just with or because of the manifold collaborations always the nearest wormhole Back to the Future.
Already Profund Mysteries part 1, released on 29.04.2022, was striking me like Thor’s Hammer – bang! And already I realized what I had so sorely missed all these years since 2014. When it was announced that a part 2 would come, I was of course completely blown away.
Berge and Brundtland, the two masterminds of Röyksopp, describe Profound Mysteries consisting of part 1 and part 2 as the biggest project in Röyksopp’s career. It encapsulates and builds on the unique sound they have been honing for decades. It is a bold look into the future and a tribute to the artists, genres and musical trends that first inspired them.
It’s a project they’ve been working on all their lives (the earliest ideas come from the early days of Röyksopp, literally using MIDI data the band composed as teenagers in the 1990s).
In the first track ‚Denimclad Baboons‘ it sounds slightly distorted with heavy background noise and the familiar crackles of records (these were things made of plastic with a hole in the middle where you could look through from both sides), but this is intentional – musically the 80s are awakened again.
This continues at first in the second track Let’s Get it Right, but the track develops into a real midtempo dancefloor filler.
„Unity“, the third track, is a fabulously horny house number, with a banging bassy intro and classic house piano motifs, as also known from the brilliant American house icon LP Giobbi. „Unity“ awakens the urgent need for even more ecstatic movement on the danceflorr, – best together with the person who is most important for you in your life.
All in all, you won’t find a single weak moment on part 2 of Profound Mysteries, the album is superbly arranged and incredibly cohesive in itself. The stomping „Control“ and the unbelievably beautiful ballad „Sorry“ with a very good change of tempo should be highlighted.
Profound Mysteries II, like its predecessor, features an abundance of collaborations. As always, Berge and Brundtland wrote, recorded and produced the majority of the album together in Norway, though their collaborations span the globe. On Profound Mysteries II, Röyksopp recorded strings and woodwinds in New York, Berlin and Paris.
Guest vocalists come from both well-known artists in the Röyksopp universe (Susanne Sundfør) and new additions (Allison Goldfrapp, Beki Mari, Astrid S, Karen Harding, Pixx and Jamie Irrepressible).
There is a unique expanded creative universe where each track is accompanied by an „artifact“ and a „visualiser“ created by Australian contemporary artist Jonathan Zawada, as well as a short film created in collaboration with Scandinavian production agency Bacon. All previous „Bacon“ films can be seen here.
The Bottom Line
Like its predecessor Profound Mysteries I, Part 2 proves to be a sensationally good album that once again carries the milestones in electronica a long way forward. From pushing dancefloor stuff, carried midtempo numbers to beguiling ballads and wonderful flowing ambient numbers, everything is represented on Profound Memories that makes electronica such a fascinating upper genre. Both releases have a great chance to win the title „Album of the Year“.
The album is available on Qobuz with 24 bit / 44.1 kHz in hi-res format, but on Apple Music „only“ in lossless 16 bit / 44.1 kHz format.
Mein Testequipment:
Studio 1 (High End):
- 2 x System Audio SA Mantra 50 (front)
- 1x System Audio SA Mantra 10 AV (center)
- 2x System Audio SA Legend 5 (Rear)
- 1 x System Audio Saxo 10 (Subwoofer)
- 4 x Onkyo SKH-410 (B) (Dolby Atmos)
- Auralic Altair (Audio Streaming Client mit max. 32 Bit / 384 kHz)
- NVIDIA Shield Pro mit Plex, Kodi (max 192 kHz für Audio, Tidal (MQA Streaming Client)
- AppleTV 4K (Streaming Client) Dolby Atmos, HDR, Dolby Vision
- Amazon Cube 4K (Streaming Client) Dolby Atmos (restricted), HDR, Dolby Vision
- Panasonic DP-UB9004 (4K UHD Player) Dolby Atmos, HDR, Dolby Vision
- Oppo UDP-203 (4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc Player) Dolby Atmos, HDR, Dolby Vision
- Yamaha CX-A5100 (Preamp) 4K, Dolby Atmos, Hi-res
- Yamaha MX -A5000 (Power Amp)
- Sony KD-55A1 (TV) 4K OLED, HDR, Dolby Vision