When Norwegians Röyksopp released Melody AM last year one wondered whether there could possibly be such a stab at life again. Would anyone else be there to take the risks, to breathe new life into those pacey Lalo Schifrin-type riffs? The fact that nothing more came our way from those two fur-lined lounge creatures was cause for despair.
Well, in Norway they must be putting something in the snow. Here comes Ralph Myerz (also known as DJ Erlend Sellevold) with a whole new bag. Joined by his buddies called the Jack Herren Band, the marketing approach is distinctly Seventies American office. The liner has a bunch of cheesy, B-grade executives hard-selling the title: A Special Album (Sheer).
Like their countrymen in Röyksopp, Myerz and his Herrens have turned to B-grade cinema for inspiration. The big hit Nikita is apparently sampled from an old German movie, and elsewhere in the First World made it into a major Volkswagen commercial. Okay, so we were spared that. But the mainstreaming of this kind of jazzy electronica doesn’t mean that it isn’t really good.
For members of a certain generation (anyone who can’t make it beyond 11pm) there is something distinctly comforting in the return to home values. This is evidenced in the very usage of the term “lounge”. There is nothing cozier than the gentle tinkling of a vibraphone or a sizzling organ played in the Johnny Hammond style. Forgive me, but I’m getting sentimental. Ultimately A Special Album is exactly that.