It's normally not in your best interests if you're a dance/electronic fan to get your hopes up for follow-up albums. Air still haven't made good on that second great record since Moon Safari. Basement Jaxx haven't really blown me away since Remedy. So, after the genius work of Royksopp's 2001's Melody A.M, I wasn't expecting much out of The Understanding. But Royksopp haven't just made something as great as Melody A.M, they've made something slightly better. Crisp beats, soothing melodic synth work, and vocal contributions that enhance, not hinder the beats going on in the background. "Only This Moment" has such an incredible vocal flow to the tinkling of rhythms, and "49 Percent" shows Royksopp as a dance group with a glass is half empty mentality with lyrics such as " 49 percent, one percent short of half, and less than half ain't really much of nothing."

The Understanding beats out Melody A.M. by just a tidge because it's consistently entertaining throughout. There never is a moment where you want to skip ahead to the next track. And The Understanding isn't completely frontloaded like most dance records tend to be, either. Two of the very best tracks are actually near the end. "Alpha Male" starts off slow, but chugs along patiently like the little locomotive that could, and by the end, it sets the dance floor on fire. "Someone Like Me" is also fantastic, with its mellow guitar plucking, handclaps, and barely audible whispered lyrics of "Someone like me, with someone like you, how unlikely, too good to be true." The Understanding is an absolute treat throughout, and is a very close second to LCD Soundsystem for best electronic album so far this year.