Album Feature: Peter Bjorn and John - Writer's Block

It was only recently that while listening to Air's Talkie Walkie the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together in my head. The album track, Alpha Beta Gaga is built around a circular chorus of whistling. An unusual adoption for a pop outfit but perhaps something that we've grown to expect from the unorthodox French duo. (Heck, if it was good enough for John Lennon's more sentimental, Jealous Guy, why not?)

Likewise, Peter Bjorn and John are not your everyday pop outfit. Nor are they your everyday indie outfit for that matter…

For starters, they call Stockholm home. Not since Kent or The Wannadies has there been such a beguiling Swedish band taking measured, assured steps towards the international stage.

They also enjoy a spattering of twee in their pop. Their breakout single, Young Folks is difficult to miss. Built around (you guessed it) a chorus of whistling and echoing a stripped-back, beatnik sensibility of bass, snare-drum and shaker, the track defies era. The duet features Victoria (The Concretes) Bergsman and evokes that reckless feeling of finding the one who gets you, flaws and all and wants to be by your side as you stand defiant against the voices of conformity, presenting to the world with contained glee, two fingers my friend.

Though coyly titled, Writer's Block, the album seems to suggest anything but. Peter Moren's vocals channel a young Bobby Gillespie filtered through a private finishing school rather than a drug induced haze. Up Against The Wall highlights the trio's ability to create magic out of the most primitive song structures. Deceivingly simple melodies are the order of the day and these are the creatures that swirl and recoil only to return to your consciousness at 2am, not knowing who or what you've got in your head but knowing that answers must be found. "I think it might be My Bloody Valentine…no maybe it's Camera Obscura…I dunno what it is but I know it's great".

Let's Call It Off recalls aspects of Denim and Saint Etienne with their low-key, 60's infused folk-dance complete with hand-claps while Objects Of My Affection gushes forward with a hybrid of the chiming guitar fury of Ride crossed with the production style of John Cale era Velvet Underground. Surprisingly, Start To Melt is a triumphant, all-out Shoegazing extravaganza disguised as Scando-pop and a bit of a quiet achiever as far as the album goes.

One of the rules that Peter Bjorn and John set for themselves prior to entering the studio to record this, their third album was "Keep it simple". Simple has never sounded so evocative and mesmerizing.

Writer's Block is released on Feb 6th on Almost Gold Recordings and features a bonus disc of B-Sides, outtakes, single edits and remixes.

Peter Bjorn and John perform the following New York shows next week:

Monday, Jan 29 – The Mercury Lounge
Tuesday, Jan 30 – Bowery Ballroom

Tags:   60s infused folk dance, Air, Album Reviews, Bobby Gillespie, Camera Obscura, Denim, French Bands, John Cale, John Lennon, Kent, New Music, Peter Bjorn and John, Ride, Saint Etienne, Scandinavian Bands, Shoegazer, Swedish Bands, The Concretes, The Wannadies, UK Bands, Velvet Underground, Victoria Bergsman, Writers Block

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Posted on 1/23/2007 ( Permanent Link )
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