Review: Peter Bjorn and John - Living Thing

Apparently, lots of people really liked Peter Bjorn and John's debut album, Writer's Block (or maybe just their smash hit, "Young Folks"), so it was no surprise that with the release of Living Thing, popular expectation seemed to fall around around the 'I hope they have more songs like that one I've heard before' camp. And it seems the Swedish trio overheard these desires while they were busy overhauling their sound; the end result being a mixture of a more evolved and realized minimal pop tracks that contain glimpses of what made Writer's Block so brilliant. This isn't to say the album is by any means perfect, or even excellent, but Living Thing seems to realize that it is a different creature than PB&J's last outing, and makes the most of it by retaining only the best traits of Writer's Block while evolving a little beyond it.

The album's first track "The Feeling" seems to serve as the perfect introduction to PB&J's new style and song structure, not only because it is chronologically first or because it features vaguely reminiscent traits from Writer's Block, but also because the chanting chorus, quite literally, states "I can feel it / Can you feel it? / There's something in the air." What is, in fact, in the air is the new, yet oddly familiar, sound that Living Thing creates. The track also points out that more of the same stripped down sound is what's to come with the words "I'm feeling that all the things we are is enough." This seems to be the overlying mentality of Living Thing, and it shows on almost every track.

Next is "It Don't Move Me," which is Living Thing's most transparent throwback to the band's old ways, as it takes the formula of "Young Folks" and applies it unabashedly to a new set of lyrics and the removal of whistling and bongos in exchange for a dark sounding piano riff and funky electronic backbeats. While this sounds like a cop out of a song, these seemingly small transformations make for a much more brooding and dark song that retains all the hooks of a joyous pop anthem. From here on out however, the terrain gets much more unfamiliar.

Thankfully, Living Thing successfully avoids being an album full of rewrites of their strong suits, as songs like "Nothing to Worry About," "Lay it Down," and "Living Thing" prove that the trio has more than one dimension. "Nothing to Worry About," with its child sung chorus and simple lyrics, has most likely already reached your ears, and if not, will probably reach them soon. The catchy chant of "Do this thing / This type of thing / Put a little money in this type of thing / I got nothing to worry about" will most likely follow a similar path of a little-known ditty I heard last summer. I believe it was called "Paper Planes."

"Lay it Down" is similarly infectious, but uses garish vulgarity to hook the listener, opening with the chorus "Hey, shut the fuck up boy / You are starting to piss me off." This tactic seems a divisive one among listeners, coming off as either cheap and immature, or the most fun dance song you've heard all year. Regardless, it's catchy. Just don't expect it to be more than that.

"Living Thing" may not get as much radio play as "Nothing to Worry About" almost surely is, but it does introduce a nice, twangy vibe that shows a willingness to play with genres that sadly is not really anywhere else on the album. The rest of the songs seem to stick to their signature, indie-pop guns. Lucky for PB&J, these guns are pretty reliable, even if they aren't all extremely notable.

The album concludes with "Last Night," a floaty, ethereal bullet from one of those signature guns that seems to find its target better than any other on the album. The simple piano and synth melody supported by nothing more than a heartbeat and staggered lyrics marks the point at which Living Thing sounds the most alive. The track is a beautiful, yet injured sounding conclusion to a similarly constructed album.

Overall, Living Thing is a solid step in the right direction for Peter Bjorn and John. Admittedly, it is a baby step, as some songs cling rather tightly to the successes of Writer's Block. And yes, the instrumentation is way stripped down, which is not necessarily the wisest move considering calling Peter Bjorn and John's lyrics "a little repetitive" is a bit of an understatement. However, this unlikely pairing makes for a slow burn of quirky hooks that somehow fall together into an album that will have you swaying back and forth chanting all along the way.