Senior (album)

Senior
Studio album by Röyksopp
Released	8 September 2010
Genre	Downtempo ambient trip hop
Length	54:14
Label	Wall of Sound
Producer	Röyksopp
Röyksopp chronology
Junior (2009) Senior (2010) Late Night Tales: Röyksopp (2013)
Singles from Senior
"The Drug" Released: 8 August 2010 "Forsaken Cowboy" Released: 25 February 2011

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	61/100[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
BBC Music	Very positive[3]
Filter	70%[4]
Metro	Positive[5]
musicOMH	[6]
NME	Mixed[7]
Now	3/5[8]
Pitchfork Media	6.0/10[9]
PopMatters	[10]
Under the Radar	[11]

Senior is the fourth studio album by Norwegian electronic music duo Röyksopp, released on 8 September 2010 by Wall of Sound. Consisting of instrumental tracks only, the album is described as more introspective and withdrawn than its predecessor, Junior (2009). The CD's final track "A Long, Long Way" also includes the hidden track "The Final Day", which is available as a separate track on the iTunes Store.^[12]

The album debuted at number 33 on the UK Albums Chart with first-week sales of 3,864 copies.^[13] Senior spawned two singles: "The Drug" and "Forsaken Cowboy".

Background

Senior is intended to be an introspective, withdrawn, atmospheric counterpart to the "bubbly dance grooves" of Junior (2009),^[14][15] with Röyksopp stating it has a more "autumn mood" to it, in contrast to Junior's "spring feel".^[16] In an interview with KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic, Svein Berge dubbed Senior "the senile sibling of Junior who lives in the attic".^[17] Berge cited "The Alcoholic" as a standout track, explaining that they had "this romantic, nostalgic idea based on this hobo who hitchhikes on trains and travels from place to place".^[16]

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 dolls.^[18]

"The Drug" was released as the album's lead single on 8 August 2010.^[19] The music video for the song, directed by Norwegian film duo That Go (Noel Paul and Stefan Moore), premiered on 3 September 2010.^[20] The video features three girls (Amanda Bauer, Jessie Vanatta and Jenna Lammert)^[21] in airbrushed T-shirts walking through an apocalyptic landscape in Detroit, Michigan.^[20][22] An extended, ten-minute cut of the video, redubbed "Senior Living", that uses six tracks from the album was released on 18 November 2010.^[22] The album's second single, "Forsaken Cowboy", was released on 25 February 2011.^[23]

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.^[24][25] The winners were announced on 27 January 2011, with a video for "The Alcoholic" being chosen as the overall winner.^[26]

Track listing

All tracks written by Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland. 

No.	Title	Length
1.	"....And the Forest Began to Sing"	1:50
2.	"Tricky Two"	7:51
3.	"The Alcoholic"	5:10
4.	"Senior Living"	5:09
5.	"The Drug"	5:58
6.	"Forsaken Cowboy"	5:28
7.	"The Fear"	7:01
8.	"Coming Home"	5:05
9.	"A Long, Long Way"	4:00
10.	"The Final Day" (hidden track)	6:42

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Senior.^[27]

• Röyksopp – engineering, instruments, performance, production (all tracks), bass (track 7)
• Kato Ådland – guitar (track 3), bass (track 7)
• Lindy Fay Hella – vocals (track 6)
• Mike Marsh – mastering
• Davide Rossi – string arrangements, string performance (track 4)
• Bjørn Sæther – drums (track 7)
• Ole Vegard Skauge – bass (track 1)

Charts

Chart (2010)	Peak position
Australian Albums Chart[28]	80
Australian Dance Albums Chart[29]	12
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[30]	21
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[31]	31
Danish Albums Chart[32]	30
Dutch Albums Chart[33]	41
European Top 100 Albums[34]	28
French Albums Chart[35]	128
German Albums Chart[36]	52
Greek Albums Chart[37]	33
Irish Albums Chart[38]	58
Irish Independent Albums Chart[39]	8
Japanese Albums Chart[40]	226
Norwegian Albums Chart[41]	1
Scottish Albums Chart[42]	49
Swedish Albums Chart[43]	17
Swiss Albums Chart[44]	28
UK Albums Chart[45]	33
UK Dance Albums Chart[46]	4
UK Indie Albums Chart[47]	3
US Dance/Electronic Albums[48]	18
US Heatseekers Albums[49]	46

Release history

Region	Date	Label	Ref.
Japan	8 September 2010	EMI	[50]
Australia	10 September 2010		[51]
Germany		PIAS	[52]
France	13 September 2010		[53]
Norway		Virgin	[54]
United Kingdom		Wall of Sound	[55]
United States	22 September 2010	MB3	[56]

References

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2. Bush, John. "Senior – Röyksopp". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
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4. Vallejos, Tamara (22 December 2010). "Röyksopp – Senior". Filter. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
5. Heller, Robert (17 September 2010). "Röyksopp's Senior: A lovely electronic indulgence". Metro. Associated Newspapers. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
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