The thing about instant ‘classics’ is that they often feel like you’ve been carrying them around with you forever. Ultimately, however, the same could also be said of warts, eczema and a dozen or so STDs like chlamydia. You see, familiarity is not always the first requisite for that which is memorable or terrific, it’s also the first requisite for contempt – and Royskopp’s follow-up to their gently seismic debut album, Melody AM falls unevenly between the two. ’49 Percent’ is a shameless borrow of every trick in the Prince lexicon, ‘Beautiful Day Without You’ and ‘Follow My Ruin’ both mimic the frisky sighs and gentle, swarthy jouissance of Air and guest vocalist, Karin Dreijer’s commendable Bjork performance invites almost total recall, rifling through the draws of modern electronica like the child in the proverbial confectioners.
For the most part though, it’s a sparkling and likeable enough rummage. ‘Circuit Breakers’’ light vocoder nonsense pleases, ‘Only This Moment’ is a bright and ecstatic tour around ‘house’ and the eerie and climactic ‘Triumphant’ even recalls the pretty and cinematic Royskopp of old.
Truth is, fans of Melody AM are as likely to find as many parallels as discrepancies in the likeness between that album and The Understanding. But whilst it’s not lacking in filmic references, soft-pornography or dope beats it’s demonstrably more ‘mature’. There are more songs with vocals, more deliberate structures and more deliberate intentions. Let’s face it; understanding is often accompanied by the rather poignant departure of blissful innocence. And there’s no exception to that rule here.