Norwegian duo on tour in U.S.

By Patricia Ho

Royksopp's Tornbjorn Brundtland informs me that, as we speak, silicone is being injected into his forehead.

"Haven't you seen jazz musicians who are really virtuoso?" he jokes in a phone interview from L.A. "They always seem to have a really big forehead. You know how some female musicians get silicone implants to make a certain impact? For me, as a more serious musician and also being a male, I think to have silicone in my forehead would give me that legend look."

Bulging forehead or not, the two men that form Royksopp have been lauded as dance music's newest heroes and the harbingers of a new era for chill-out lounge music.

In addition to making a cosmetic investment, Brundtland has traveled across the world for Royksopp's first-ever American tour.

A transatlantic presence was not something Royksopp had in mind.

"We're not the kind of people that want to look ourselves in the mirror and say, 'I want to become big.' We want the things we make to reach out to as many people as possible, but it's not so much about us personally as the things that we do. Just look at the name we have. It's 'Royksopp.' It doesn't sound like a band with international ambitions."

So what does the name mean anyway? Brundtland won't say.

A quick check online reveals that "sopp" is Norwegian for "fungus," if that helps at all. He also refuses to explain the mysterious dialogue at the beginning of "Eple," the duo's much anthologized single.

"We allow ourselves to do things that only we understand. We put it in there to tickle people's curiosity."

The duo of Brundtland and Svein Berge first met around the age of 12 in their birthplace Tromso, a Norwegian island connected to the mainland by a mile-long bridge. Curiosity was what first brought the two together.

"Electronic music at that time was astonishing to us," says Brundtland. "We asked ourselves, 'How is this done?' And we started on a quest finding that out."

The result of their efforts is showcased in 2001's "Melody A.M.," an album that has been hailed by a slew of U.K. magazines as the album of the year.

Tickling, again, is key.

"Our sound is definitely something to tickle your ears," says Brundtland. "Let's say that the song is a person. Then the face would be the melody. That's because the face is the thing in a person that you recognize instantly and you decide whether you like it or not.

"But the sounds that we use would be the soul of the person. And we try to make it both catchy - something that you can connect to immediately - and very subtle as well. So that it doesn't become something just two-dimensional. You can go back and listen to the songs and find out new stuff."

I asked Brundtland where he gets ideas for songs and he embarks on another improbable story: "A friend of ours is really really lazy, but he's a genius. We would phone him and ask..."

Royksopp will be performing at Bimbo's 365 Club in San Francisco. Show starts at 9 p.m. and doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets are $18.