Peter Bjorn and John – Living Thing Album Review

Click on the turntable on the left to listen to a continuous stream of music featured on Pretty Much Amazing - updated every day. For more, you can check out the Best Songs of 2011, or our Best Albums of 2011.

Peter Bjorn and John   Living Thing Album Review stream reviews music mp3 albumreviews

[rating:72/100]

“Do this thing this type of thing, put a little money in this type of thing, we’ve got nothing to worry about. I got nothing to worry about.” From the opening high-pitched children’s choir shriek of “Nothing To Worry About,” Peter Bjorn and John had me hooked. Just three years after releasing one of 2006′s most addictive songs, the Swedish boys had done it again with another phenomenal single. “Nothing To Worry About” bubbles over with infectious joy and fun, and it bubbled the indie rock world with excitement for their upcoming album.

The second single off of Living Thing piqued interest as well. “Lay It Down” begins with lead singer Peter Moren singing jublilantly: “Hey, shut the f**k up boy, you are starting to piss me off!” And in kicks in the choir once more (probably not children this time), singing a spectacular dirty ditty about telling someone to cut it out. Needless to say, these two singles got me extremely excited for Living Thing.

[download#42]_

And while Living Thing is not the joyous, unadulterated pop-rock album I was expecting it to be, that doesn’t make it any less great. No other songs are as catchy as the initial singles, but these Swedes still know how to craft excellent, mellow indie rock that grabs you by the heart and tugs- sometimes aggressively, and sometimes lightly, but almost always effectively.

Album opener “The Feeling” gets things off to a good start. Essentially Moren singing over drums and hand-claps, the song is bare and original. Most importantly, it keeps an upbeat tempo, which seems to be the trend for the best songs on Living Thing. This includes “I’m Losing My Mind,” which features an I’m From Barcelona-inspired choir and grows to a foot-stomping ending.

Also among the album’s best is the excellent, Afro-Pop titular track, which I reviewed more specifically earlier.

These upbeat tracks are indeed the cream of the crop, but a few slow songs work just as well. “Just The Past” is a quality, Peter Gabriel-esque track that only falls short of being great due to it’s lack of climax. “I Want You” is effective too, a song that highlights Moren’s innocence as a singer- his light Swedish accent impacts the song as he talk-sings; just a normal guy crooning over lush guitars, wondering why a girl can’t realize that he is in love with her.

“Stay This Way” is also beautiful, with almost a Motown feel: the drum shuffle, the sneaker-squeak sound effect, and the “Stand By Me” finger snap. Moren continues with his trademark simple but powerful lyrics- “I don’t want to grow old, I don’t want to stay young.”

To me, these simple, to-the-point lyrics are very appealing. The band never takes their songs too seriously, they never try to create “deep” moments. They prefer those simple words/phrases: “shut the f**k up, boy,” “I want you,” “I’m losing my mind,” “Can you feel it? I can feel it!” It’s not about the words, it’s how they are sung, layered, and formed to pack an emotional punch in some way, whether you are reminiscing or singing along.

Living Thing‘s biggest problem is that for every two songs that work, there’s one song that doesn’t.”Blue Period Picasso” pings along with a lazy 80s electro-beat in the background. The song tries to mix an upbeat feel with a moody one, and it has a displeasing effect. The same happens on “It Doesn’t Move Me.”

“4 Out Of 5″ even better accentuates Living Thing‘s occasional over-moodiness, sounding like filler on an album that doesn’t need it. Almost a second-rate version of Ben Folds’ “Cologne,” the melody just isn’t strong enough to hold your interest, and the necessary emotion is lacking. “Last Night” is also weak, as the band tried to end the album with a whimper, not a bang. It doesn’t work.

At 12 songs and 47 minutes, Living Thing is a bit too long for such a repetitive album (the same stomping drum beats, hollow production, and vocals are littered throughout). But the highlights are enthralling and bountiful. So while Peter Bjorn and John’s latest won’t top anyone’s year-end album list, more than a few songs are stellar enough to make Living Thing a goodie, and a record that will certainly hit the middle of some lists come December.

Ed. Note: Are you interested in writing about music? We'd love to hear from you! Email us with samples and a short bio.

{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }

DJ March 25, 2009 at 6:16 pm

I agree with you wholeheartedly in regards to the beats of the songs. It turned out to be a pretty good album to run to. Pretty decent return for PB&J.

Reply

schnd March 27, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Jeff Lind March 27, 2009 at 4:39 pm

Love “Nothing to Worry About.” It kind of feels like a stripped down, messed up version of “Amsterdam.” The hook that you referenced, “Do this thing, this type of thing, put a little money in this type of thing…” sounds eerily like “Baby went to Amsterdam, put a little money into traveling.”

Looking forward to hearing the whole album.

Reply

ED March 30, 2009 at 10:00 am

PETER MOREN DOESNT SING EVERY TRACK

JOHN SINGS ‘I WANT YOU’ AND ‘THE FEELING’

Reply

ED March 30, 2009 at 10:01 am

sorry for shouting. i didnt realise caps lock was on!

Reply

Adam Offitzer March 31, 2009 at 7:17 pm

Haha it’s fine…I’m actually glad you told me that…I knew the voice sounded different on those two…

Reply

Dana Ross April 2, 2009 at 10:22 am

“It don’t move me” and “I want you” are my personal favorites. In my opinion, eight out of the twelve songs are pretty good, so it’s definitely worth owning. I also agree with the author, Adam that the simple to-the-point lyrics are so basic that it almost seems like they may be more complicated to write then they come across. I don’t know, maybe you can compare it to an indie lovers Brittney Spears album? In a good way…

Reply

Leave a Comment

{ 3 trackbacks }

[rating:75/100] The beginning of “When I Died,” the album-opener of their upcoming album Now We Can See, sounds like it came off of a They Might Be Giants kids album.…

Keep Reading...

As our good friend Will at WAWSTSF said the other day, maybe THIS song is where all of the energy from “White Sky” went Shortly after Vampire Weekend gave their…

Keep Reading...

[rating:13/100] Let’s get this out of the way: I have never been a fan of Lady Sovereign’s music. That said, however, I still have been able to listen, tolerate, and…

Keep Reading...

I had the pleasure of catching Cut Copy and Matt & Kim at the newly reopened House of Blues in Boston this past weekend, a great show to be sure. …

Keep Reading...

The Arctic Monkeys B-Side & Rarities Project was inspired by Matthew Perpetua’s Pop Songs 07-08 project, and was first introduced on November 19, 2007 and it ended there. On March…

Keep Reading...

[rating:75/100] Wale (rhymes with Lupe, I’m sick of people calling him whale) has finally dropped the first single off his debut album, Attention: Deficit which will see its release this…

Keep Reading...

A remix a day keeps the doctor away, and the doctor lalala-LOVES this remix Because we are focusing more on upcoming musical releases around here, new remixes get the short…

Keep Reading...

[rating:64/100] “Welcome To The World” is Kevin Rudolf’s answer to those calling him a one-hit-wonder. His massive hit (but somehow, still understated) single with Lil Weezy, “Let It Rock” has…

Keep Reading...

[rating:83/100] If you know anything about Phoenix, you know this: they always deliver. Always. From back in the Alphabetical days (it’s impossible to not love “Everything is Everything”) to It’s…

Keep Reading...