''Senior'' is the fourth studio album by Norwegian

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

duo

Röyksopp Röyksopp () a Norwegian electronic music duo from Tromsø formed in 1998. The duo consists of childhood friends Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland who formed Röyksopp during the Bergen Wave. After experimenting with different Electronic Mu ...

. It was released on 8 September 2010 by

Wall of Sound The Wall of Sound (also called the Spector Sound) is a music production formula developed by American record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios, in the 1960s, with assistance from engineer Larry Levine and the conglomerate of session m ...

. Consisting of instrumental tracks only, the album is described as more introspective and withdrawn than its predecessor, ''

Junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

'' (2009). The final track on the CD version, "A Long, Long Way", also includes the

hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...

"The Final Day", which is available as a separate track on the iTunes Store. The album debuted at number 33 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

with first-week sales of 3,864 copies. ''Senior'' spawned two singles: "The Drug" and "Forsaken Cowboy". In December 2012, the album was awarded a silver certification from the

Independent Music Companies Association The Independent Music Companies Association (IMPALA), originally the Independent Music Publishers and Labels Association, is a non-profit trade association established in 2000 to help European independent record labels represent their agenda a ...

(IMPALA), indicating sales in excess of 20,000 copies throughout Europe.

Background

''Senior'' is intended to be an introspective, withdrawn, atmospheric counterpart to the "bubbly

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

grooves" of ''

'' (2009), with Röyksopp stating it has a more "autumn mood" to it, in contrast to ''Junior''s "spring feel". In an interview with

KCRW KCRW (89.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is an NPR member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programming ...

's ''

Morning Becomes Eclectic ''Morning Becomes Eclectic'' (MBE) is an American three-hour adult album alternative radio program first aired in 1977 and broadcast live every weekday from KCRW in Santa Monica, California. The show's name is a play on the Eugene O'Neill t ...

'',

Svein Berge Svein is a Norwegian masculine given name. Notable people with the given name include: Rulers * Sweyn Haakonsson (died c. 1016), in Norwegian Svein Håkonsson, an earl and co-ruler of Norway from 1000 to c. 1015 * Svein Knutsson (c. 1016–1035), ...

dubbed ''Senior'' "the senile sibling of ''Junior'' who lives in the attic". Berge cited "The Alcoholic" as a standout track, explaining that they had "this romantic, nostalgic idea based on this

hobo A hobo is a migrant worker in the United States. Hoboes, tramps, and bums are generally regarded as related, but distinct: a hobo travels and is willing to work; a tramp travels, but avoids work if possible; a bum neither travels nor works. Et ...

who hitchhikes on trains and travels from place to place".

Promotion

To promote ''Senior'', Röyksopp released a 10-minute film titled ''Röyksopp's Adventures in Barbieland'' on 6 August 2010, containing six tracks from the album. Directed by Andreas Nilsson, the film shows Röyksopp living as two elderly musicians in a house full of

Barbie Barbie is a fashion doll created by American businesswoman Ruth Handler, manufactured by American toy and entertainment company Mattel and introduced on March 9, 1959. The toy was based on the German Bild Lilli doll, Bild Lilli doll which Hand ...

dolls. "The Drug" was released as the album's lead single on 8 August 2010. The music video for the song, directed by Norwegian film duo That Go (Noel Paul and Stefan Moore), premiered on 3 September 2010. The video features three girls (Amanda Bauer, Jessie Vanatta and Jenna Lammert) in airbrushed T-shirts walking through an apocalyptic landscape in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. An extended, 10-minute cut of the video, redubbed "Senior Living", that uses six tracks from the album was released on 18 November 2010. The album's second single, "Forsaken Cowboy", was released on 25 February 2011. On 4 November 2010, Röyksopp partnered with Genero.tv to launch a competition allowing fans to create videos for each one of the tracks from ''Senior''. The winners were announced on 27 January 2011, with a video for "The Alcoholic" being chosen as the overall winner.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Senior''. *

– performance, recording, production, instruments ; bass * Ole Vegard Skauge – bass * Kato Ådland – guitar ; bass *

Davide Rossi Davide Rossi (born 7 August 1970) is an Italian violinist, string arranger, orchestrator, songwriter, composer and conductor, perhaps best known for having been the electric violinist and multi-instrumentalist for the British electronic music d ...

– string arrangements, strings *

Lindy-Fay Hella Lindy-Fay Hella (born in 1975) is a Norwegian singer, musician and composer, known as a member of Wardruna and Lindy-Fay Hella & Dei Farne. She played electronic music before becoming a founding member of Wardruna, which plays eclectic music influ ...

– vocals * Bjørn Sæther – drums * Mike Marsh – mastering

Charts

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Senior (Album) 2010 albums 2010s instrumental albums Röyksopp albums Virgin Records albums Wall of Sound (record label) albums