Royksopp: 'We're mere rookies': "[Royksopp] have developed their own theories regarding songcraft: the Seven Stages of Songwriting Enlightenment. It has an impressive name, and comes with an impressive caveat. 'It's probably going to take up a lot of space to explain,' cautions Brundtland. 'You may need to call your editor and ask if he can clear a few pages.' 'And we are only ourselves on level three, out of seven,' Berge frowns.'We're mere rookies. We haven't had complete enlightenment yet.'
Highlights:
'Stage one is very easy. You are at a party, trying to impress a girl, and you get out a pen or pencil. You write something and you look very poetic. Perhaps you can boost this a little bit by smoking a cigarette, a Gitane perhaps if you want to go the French way, like Serge Gainsbourg.'And,' he adds, 'you need to have a very loose wrist when you strum the guitar.' His partner vigorously agrees. 'Yes, you are not just plucking' - he pronounces the word 'plooking' - 'on the strings. So that's stage one.
Stage two is when you learn to steal properly. You must take three totally useless books, let's say, a cookbook, a book about human anatomy and . . . ' He thinks for a moment. 'And a porno magazine. If you can use at least three words combined from each, and paste them together into your own thing, you are invited to level two.''
Then there is stage three. First of all, obviously, there is the hair and the beard.' Berge gestures towards his head, which is indeed considerably more hirsute now than when the duo first emerged three years ago.'Also, it is important to be able to name-drop the big singer-songwriters and say you're into Costello and Dylan, and obviously Leonard Cohen, and also to be in touch with themes such as religion and politics, in a subtle way.'"
