The Understanding is the second studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by Norwegian electronic

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

 duo Röyksopp

Röyksopp

Röyksopp is a Norwegian electronic music duo from Tromsø, formed in 1998. Since their inception, the band's line-up has included Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland....

. It was released in the United Kingdom on 4 July 2005 by Wall of Sound

Wall of Sound (record label)

Wall of Sound is an independent record label based in London, England. It is part of the [PIAS] Entertainment Group, a European independent music company....

 and in the United States on 12 July 2005 by Astralwerks

Astralwerks

Astralwerks is a New York-based record label that releases primarily electronic music. It is owned by Virgin Records/EMI and distributed by Caroline Distribution in the United States....

. The deluxe edition, including a bonus CD, is sold in a Digipak

Digipak

Digipak is a patented style of CD, DVD or BD packaging, and is a registered trademark of AGI World Ltd., an Atlas Holdings company.-Features:...

. The single "Curves" was released alongside The Understanding via the Internet.

Similarly to Melody A.M.

Melody A.M.

Melody A.M. is the debut album by Norwegian electronic duo Röyksopp, released on 8 October 2001 by Wall of Sound. Songs from this album have been used in television adverts and computer games; "Remind Me" was formally featured in an advertisement for GEICO Insurance in one of their popular Caveman...

, songs from The Understanding have been used widely in television adverts and computer games. "Circuit Breaker" and "Only This Moment

Only This Moment

"Only This Moment" is the first single from the Norwegian duo Röyksopp's second album The Understanding. The track features Kate Havnevik on guest vocals and co-writing.-Track listing:#"Only This Moment " – 3:41...

" were used in an episode of Danmarks Radio's consumer programme, named Rabatten. "Follow My Ruin" was also included on the soundtrack to FIFA 06

FIFA 06

FIFA 06, also known as FIFA Soccer 06, is a video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts based around the game of football. It was released in the United States on 4 October 2005 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Windows, PlayStation Portable, Game Boy Advance, and...

, the 2005 edition of EA Sports

EA Sports

EA Sports is a brand of Electronic Arts that creates and develops sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to mimic real-life sports networks by calling themselves "EA Sports Network" with pictures or endorsements of real commentators such as John...

's long-running soccer video game franchise. "What Else Is There?

What Else Is There?

"What Else Is There?" is the third single from the Norwegian duo Röyksopp's second album The Understanding. It features the vocals of Karin Dreijer Andersson from the electronica duo The Knife. The album was released in the UK with the help of Astralwerks....

" was used in an O₂ television advertisement in the Czech Republic in 2007 and in Slovakia in 2008. It was also used in the 2006 film Cashback

Cashback (film)

Cashback is the name of two films directed by Sean Ellis: a 2004 short film and a 2006 feature film. Both were produced by Lene Bausager, starring Sean Biggerstaff and Emilia Fox. The feature was released by Magnolia Pictures in late 2006 and also starred Michelle Ryan...

and the 2007 film Meet Bill. A remixed version of "What Else Is There?" was featured on an episode of the popular HBO TV series Entourage

Entourage (TV series)

Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...

.

Track listing

Sample credits

• "What Else Is There?" contains a sample from "Love Me, Love the Life I Lead" by The Drifters
  The Drifters (American band)
  The Drifters are a long-lived American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal group with a peak in popularity from 1953 to 1963, though several splinter Drifters continue to perform today. They were originally formed to serve as Clyde McPhatter's backing group in 1953...
  
   and "Kill Me with Your Love" by Jericho
  The Churchills
  The Churchills was an Israeli band founded in 1965, active until the mid-1970s. It was a part of the rhythm bands scene that were active in Israel in the 1970s, especially in Ramla. The band played rock music in English, from psychedelic rock to hard rock...
  
  .
• "Dead to the World" contains a sample from "Who We Are" by Camel
  Camel (band)
  Camel are an English progressive rock band formed in 1971. An important group in the Canterbury scene, they have been releasing studio and live recordings steadily, with considerable success, since their formation.-1970s:...
  
  .

Personnel

• Röyksopp – performers, production
  Record producer
  A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
  
  , arrangement
  Arrangement
  The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
  
  s, mixing
  Audio mixing (recorded music)
  In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
  
  
• Kato Ådland – bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
   (track 1)
• Karin Dreijer
  Karin Dreijer Andersson
  Karin Elisabeth Dreijer Andersson , commonly known by her stage name Fever Ray, is the lead vocalist of the electronic duo The Knife, formed with her brother Olof Dreijer. Andersson was previously the vocalist and guitarist of the alternative rock band Honey Is Cool...
  
   – vocals (track 7)
• Olof Dreijer
  Olof Dreijer
  Olof Bjorn Dreijer is a member of the electronica duo The Knife, formed with his sister Karin Dreijer Andersson.Although The Knife very rarely performs live concerts, Olof performs as DJ Coolof in nightclubs across Europe....
  
   – vocal engineer (track 7)
• Tom Elmhirst
  Tom Elmhirst
  Tom Elmhirst is a British specialist music producer and mix engineer. He began his career at SARM studios in the early 90s at a time when digital audio was already becoming mainstream. Elmhirst’s experiences at SARM and with Trevor Horn have clearly influenced his current working methods...
  
   – co-mixing (track 2)
• Kate Havnevik
  Kate Havnevik
  Kate Havnevik is a singer and songwriter from Oslo, Norway. Her debut album, the critically acclaimed electronica infused Melankton, was released in March 2006 on iTunes and April 2006 in Norway only, before being licensed internationally later...
  
   – additional vocals, creative input (tracks 2, 8)
• Chelonis R. Jones – vocals (tracks 3, CD2.01)
• Sanghon Kim – artwork
  Cover art
  Cover art is the illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book , magazine, comic book, video game , DVD, CD, videotape, or music album. The art has a primarily commercial function, i.e...
  
  
• Ib Kleiser – guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
   (track 2)
• Camille Vivier – photography
  Photography
  Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
  
  

Weekly charts

Chart (2005)	Peak position
Austrian Albums Chart	60
Belgian Albums Chart Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 singles, often just Ultratop 50, is the weekly chart of fifty best-selling singles in Flanders, Belgium, and is produced and published by the Ultratop organization. The chart has existed since March 31, 1995...  (Flanders)	23
Belgian Albums Chart Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 singles, often just Ultratop 50, is the weekly chart of fifty best-selling singles in Flanders, Belgium, and is produced and published by the Ultratop organization. The chart has existed since March 31, 1995...  (Wallonia)	33
Danish Albums Chart IFPI Denmark IFPI Denmark is the Danish branch of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and is the official charts provider and recording sales certification body for Denmark.-Gold and platinum awards:...	36
Dutch Albums Chart MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top...	48
European Top 100 Albums European Top 100 Albums The European Top 100 Albums chart is the European adaptation of the Billboard 200 albums chart. It was created in March 1984.The European Top 100 Albums, commonly referred to as Eurochart Top 100 Albums shows the sales of an act in 19 European countries based on IFPI data.The European Top 100...	31
Finnish Albums Chart	39
French Albums Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry...	45
German Albums Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...	41
Greek Foreign Albums Chart IFPI Greece International Federation of the Phonographic Industry Greece or IFPI Greece is the Greek branch of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and is the official charts provider and recording sales certification body for Greece. Currently two charts are compiled, one for sales of...	4
Irish Albums Chart Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically...	16
Italian Albums Chart Federation of the Italian Music Industry The Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy....	21
Norwegian Albums Chart VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by...	1
Swedish Albums Chart Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association ....	7
Swiss Albums Chart Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75...	18
UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...	13
US Top Electronic Albums	2
US Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical...	22
US Top Independent Albums Independent Albums The Billboard Independent Albums is a chart of the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays in the United States, compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is used to list artists who are not signed to major labels...	32

Certifications

Country	Certification
United Kingdom British Phonographic Industry The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...	Gold