Torbjørn Brundtland (left) and Svein Berge (right) of Röyksopp. Photo by Stian Andersen.

When DCist reached Torbjørn Brundtland of the Norwegian electronica duo Röyksopp by phone, he was getting his shoes on to head out the door for a walk through his hometown of Tromsø. Brundtland and his counterpart Svein Berge grew up in this watery metropolis in the far northern reaches of Norway, and it’s easy to hear how its unique geography and culture lends an otherworldly touch to Röyksopp’s eclectic range of trip hop and atmospheric sounds.

At the end of last year, Röyksopp released an instrumental companion album, Senior, for their 2009 dance-friendly release Junior. The pair is currently on a North American tour, playing a sold out show at the 9:30 Club tonight before heading to Mexico and then Dubai, where they’ll headline the ChillOut Festival with Erykah Badu and Felix Martin of Hot Chip. We talked about what it’s like to work with Robyn, why they chose to film their latest music video in Detroit, how they take sartorial inspiration from Luke Skywalker and why Brundtland never goes to concerts anymore.

So you’re coming to D.C. on your tour for your instrumental album, Senior, billed as a companion to Junior. How did you decide to write an instrumental counterpart to that album? Were they composed at the same time, or was Senior a response to a finished work?

Junior and Senior have been an idea of ours for some time. It was initally sort of our double album. And they are. You hear that they are from the same period. Everything was done — production, programming — in between each other. It’s not as if we have to change mindsets completely to go from low key instrumental to more in your face, uplifting music. We wanted to make a double album, that was the idea. We’re sort of a duality, it’s the two faces of Röyksopp, if you will. But we decided to do the double album because of several reasons. The biggest is that we decided it would be too overwhelming and none of the pieces would get the focus they needed. But we like it if they are seen together, like two parts of a whole.

Can you tell me more about this short film you made, The Drug?

It was made by that go [Noel Paul and Stefan Moore]. We were involved in the decision making during the process with locations and everything. We knew that we wanted to make sort of a cross between a short film and a music video, [that go] was our choice. We love that it’s filmed in Detroit, and [that go] have that proximity to Detroit that was crucial to our decision.

In D.C., we’re not known for handling anything more than an inch of snow very well. As Norwegians, do you have any advice for us on how to handle harsh winter conditions?

I have no advice. Just be content. Of course, some people simply dislike snow. There’s nothing you can do about that. I personally like snow, but I can see that it can be a hassle when it comes to infrascrutre. It’s surprisng that in parts of the world where there is snow semi-regularly, it still takes people by surprise. I guess Washington is a bit like that. Oh no, snow — close the schools! As a kid, we always elevated the American kids because when it snowed, people got the day off from school. And that would probably never happen in Tromsø.

[Third ambulance passes] Sorry for all of the sirens – I live near a hospital and I guess there’s a lot of activity right now.

I just thought you’d put in a CD of sirens to show how urban you are.

I do live in an urban area, but —

I think you are maybe in hillbilly land and are just pretending to be in Washington.

No, I promise!

You found a CD of sirens for the background. If you had some news helicopter sounds maybe then I’d be convinced.

I’m missing that CD.

Okay.

You’re known for your eye-catching ensembles when you perform onstage. How do you determine what clothes youre going to wear onstage that night? Is there a theme throughout the tour based on the album, or is it something you decide that day?

I think we have an arsenal. Growing up, we always liked movies with effects. For instance, Luke Skywalker’s winter outfit — stuff like that could be mixed with let’s say, an eighteenth-century gentleman’s outfit. We don’t feel like there are any more limits to how much we can toss it up when it comes to style on stage. We have become maximalists when it comes to clothing styles on stage. More is more is our motto.

I wanted to ask how your lives different than they were a decade ago. Melody A.M., your breakout album, was released in 2001. How have things changed in the last ten years?

We haven’t gone haywire. We still use all the old analog equipment and we have bought one new computer since Melody A.M. We need to get a new computer in here, it’s definitely not handling the newest software too well. So this will be our third computer, including the one we used for Melody A.M. We haven’t had an extravangza in any sense in our music. We still believe in having our own way of setting up when we produce. There was more uncertainty and a sense of anticipation and waiting when we were making Melody A.M., and we have reached a state where we are making music and we have people who are into it and waiting for more. It’s definitely a step up from our dreams when we were kids.

Everything has happened very slowly with us. We are just doing what we do, and it catches on very often by word of mouth, and we just allow it to establish us in a comfortable setting where people don’t have expectations that are wrong. That’s important to us, that we are seen as what we are. And maybe sometimes we confuse people. We would like the liberty to do that, artistically. We don’t confuse people to confuse people, it’s just that it takes a little while to get into our escapades, and what we are doing now, so to speak.

In terms of our love lives…I couldn’t get anyone to be interested in me before I became a success.

That can’t be true.

Well, at least I’m honest.

So things are going well now?

Things are good, well, yes.

Good.

I wonder what it would be like to be in a different segment, like in the very commercial end of American R&B, for instance. Like, the question you asked me, “How is it now, compared to how it used to be?” You might have someone feeling like they have immense bragging rights. It’s part of the style to really, really brag about how much money you have with your Billboard success, and I just wonder what that would feel like to be a part of a music scene where its natural to brag. It would be an interesting experience.

Have you ever worked with any American or European R&B artists?

No, actually we have not. The closest is Robyn.

Oh yeah.

She has been into sort of related to R&B, what she’s done in the past, and she has a really powerful voice.

Tell me a little more about your work with Robyn.

We invited her to come to Berlin and hang out with us. We were anxious to see if we would have a good chemistry, and we just basically had the same sense of humor rather immediately and we laughed and we really had fun. And that started our relationship in terms of cooperating. It’s nice to have someone as talented as that and to know you go along pretty well. It’s good to hang out and to share some of the same jokes. Working together is so much more rewarding. When we invite someone to work with us, we don’t necessarily only listen for the sound of their voice. Although we do, it’s like the face of a person, if you see what I mean, that first impression.

There’s so much more underneath. Everyone we’ve invited, Robyn, for instance, Lykke Li, Karin Andersson from The Knife [and Fever Ray], Anneli Drecker from Bel Canto here in Norway — they all have a universe of their own. They’ve already created a thing around them, and that’s also what we want to invite into our music — their full persona. In the case of Robyn, we were anxious at first to see how it would go, but to let Robyn with her universe into our semi-quirky little place, I personally feel that we really clicked.

What artists are you excited about in 2011? Who are you looking forward to seeing live?

We have our eyes on some new up and coming artists that we may or may not work with. We will give them invites. I can’t say right now, because it may not happen. In terms of concerts, I’m not much of a concert-goer myself. I think it’s too crowded.

Unless you’re onstage.

Which is sort of a pretentious thing for an artist to say. I’m just giving what’s expected of me. But it’s true, I’m not.

What about artists that you’re excited to hear in 2011?

It’s hard to point out just one artist. I think any music that has its own identify with worth listening to.

Röyksopp headlines at the 9:30 Club tonight. Jon Hopkins opens. It is sold out.