Profound Mysteries III

Profound Mysteries III is the eighth studio album by Norwegian electronic music duo Röyksopp, and is the third and last album in the Profound Mysteries series of albums. The album was released on 18 November 2022.[1][2][3] It was released with collections of short films (each by a different director) and animated visualizations (by artist Jonathan Zawada) created to accompany each track.

Profound Mysteries III
Studio album by
Released18 November 2022 (2022-11-18)
Length60:34
LabelDog Triumph
ProducerRöyksopp
Röyksopp chronology
Profound Mysteries II
(2022)
Profound Mysteries III
(2022)
Singles from Profound Mysteries III
  1. "Speed King"
    Released: 30 August 2022
  2. "The Night"
    Released: 31 August 2022
  3. "Me&Youphoria"
    Released: 21 September 2022
  4. "Just Wanted to Know"
    Released: 18 October 2022
  5. "Feel It"
    Released: 19 October 2022
  6. "Stay Awhile"
    Released: 16 November 2022

Background and development

edit

Critical reception

edit
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic71/100[4]
Review scores
SourceRating
Aftenposten4/6[5]
AllMusic     [6]
Dagsavisen6/6[7]
The Daily Telegraph     [8]
iTromsø5/6[9]
Jenesaispop     [10]
NRK4/6[11]
Slant Magazine     [12]

Profound Mysteries III received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 71, based on 5 reviews.[4] Thomas Bedenbaugh of Slant Magazine stated that "Röyksopp concludes their Profound Mysteries trilogy with some of their most ambitious songs to date", and further noted that the track "Speed King" is the centerpiece of the album and described that "the song serves as the boldest and most memorable composition in the trilogy."[12] NRK's Shana Fevang Mathai noted that the range of songs might require a "generous ear" to appreciate.[11] Sebas E. Alonso of Jenesaispop praised "the fact that [Röyksopp] offers us something different in this storm of overwhelming news that the music world has become every Friday."[10] Bernt Erik Pedersen of Dagsavisen described the tracks of the album as going "from dramatic heights to quiet introspection, from the low whispering to the grandly symphonic, with both orchestral strings and sweeping synth strings. At the same time, there is light and dewy synthpop [...] with Astrid S on Just Wanted To Know."[7]

Track listing

edit

All tracks are written by Röyksopp, except where noted

Profound Mysteries III track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."So Ambiguous"6:06
2."Me&Youphoria"
  • Röyksopp
  • Gunhild Ramsay Kovacs
4:40
3."Stay Awhile"6:11
4."The Night"7:38
5."Lights Out"
  • Röyksopp
  • Pixx
5:28
6."Speed King" 9:53
7."The Next Day"
  • Röyksopp
  • Irrepressible
4:16
8."Just Wanted to Know"
4:13
9."Feel It"
  • Röyksopp
  • Maurissa Rose
8:14
10."Like an Old Dog"
  • Röyksopp
  • Pixx
3:55
Total length:60:34

Accompanying short films

edit

Released between August and November 2022, alongside tracks from Profound Mysteries III.[13]

Short films accompanying Profound Mysteries III
No.TitleDirectorLength
1."Paved Paradise"Tess Quatri1:09
2."How to"Emilie Norenberg1:03
3."Le Reve"Bianca Poletti2:34
4."A Crab & A Pipe"Johan Stahl2:27
5."In A Flash"Anastasia Karkazis2:02
6."speed_k1ng"Markus Tangre1:24
7."Cutting Cords"Jenny Amdi Sørensen1:02
8."Elegy"Máté Boegi1:47
9."Black Box"Ola Jacob Nestande1:34
10."Like An Old Dog"Röyksopp2:27
Total length:17:29

Charts

edit
Chart performance for Profound Mysteries III
Chart (2022) Peak
position
Australian Digital Albums (ARIA)[14] 11
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[15] 186
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[16] 61
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[17] 16
Scottish Albums (OCC)[18] 62
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[19] 25
UK Album Downloads (OCC)[20] 12
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[21] 16

References

edit
  1. ^ "Profound Mysteries III by Röyksopp on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  2. ^ Richards, Will (22 August 2022). "Röyksopp announce 'Profound Mysteries III' to complete three-part project". NME. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  3. ^ Kenneally, Cerys (22 August 2022). "Röyksopp announce Profound Mysteries III | The Line of Best Fit". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  4. ^ a b "Profound Mysteries III by Röyksopp Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  5. ^ Stuen, Eivind August Westad (18 November 2022). "Fin slutt på en ujevn trilogi" [Nice end to an uneven trilogy]. Aftenposten (in Norwegian). Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  6. ^ Monger, Timothy. Röyksopp - Profound Mysteries III at AllMusic. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  7. ^ a b Pedersen, Bernt Erik (17 November 2022). "Röyksopp og det store mysteriekammeret" [Röyksopp and the great mystery chamber]. Dagsavisen (in Norwegian). Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  8. ^ Hall, James (18 November 2022). "Weyes Blood is the voice of her generation, Nickelback sound heinous – the week's albums". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  9. ^ Nikolaisen, Rudi (18 November 2022). "Röyksopp-trilogi med en verdig avslutning - itromso.no" [Röyksopp trilogy with a worthy ending - itromso.no] (in Norwegian). iTromsø. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  10. ^ a b Alonso, Sebas E. (18 November 2022). "Röyksopp / Profound Mysteries III". Jenesaispop (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  11. ^ a b Mathai, Shana Fevang (18 November 2022). "Et mystisk univers å være i" [A mysterious universe to be in]. NRK (in Norwegian). Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  12. ^ a b Bedenbaugh, Thomas (14 November 2022). "Röyksopp Profound Mysteries III Review: An Ambitious but Indulgent Bookend". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  13. ^ "Part 3 - Röyksopp". Röyksopp. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  14. ^ "The ARIA Report: Week Commencing 28 November 2022". The ARIA Report. No. 1708. Australian Recording Industry Association. 28 November 2022. p. 10.
  15. ^ "Ultratop.be – Röyksopp – Profound Mysteries III" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  16. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Röyksopp – Profound Mysteries III" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  17. ^ "Album 2022 uke 47". VG-lista. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  18. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  19. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Röyksopp – Profound Mysteries III". Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  20. ^ "Official Album Downloads Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  21. ^ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
edit