Album Review: Peter Bjorn and John “Gimme Some”

Peter Bjorn and John – Breaker Breaker

I’m sure I’m not the only one that feels that not a week goes by without hearing the tune of Young Folks on an advert for furniture or playing on a supermarket’s own radio or on a game show on the television. It’s the token catchy song that gets ruined because of multiple plays. Peter, Bjorn & John, I’m guessing are proud of it and so they should be. That song made them. But surely they must be getting sick of it. It’s their urge to experiment ever since Young Folks that makes me think this.

Writer’s Block for me was a landmark in indie pop, it had the powerful ballads, the sickening melodies of slow jams that get stuck in your head for days and every song was guaranteed to make you play one air instrument or another. Yeah, most great indie albums have those qualities, but very few of them pull it off so delicately with only three members. The follow up, Living Thing, was the most underrated album of 2009. It’s more playful than Writer’s Block and it wasn’t scared to stray away from its safe zone. It was a very experimental arrangement of sounds that gave you a fresh new way of looking at the catchy hooks. It wandered around aimlessly but each enigmatic path lead to something precious.

Gimme Some continues the band’s fascination of experimenting, albeit a little diluted this time around. The obvious pop songs are the greatest thing about Gimme Some, they’re so poppy they border on being a guilty pleasure and some are very Vampire Weekend –ish. Although I say guilty pleasure I would never have any problem declaring that I’m listening to say, (Don’t Let Them) Cool Off, which I can easily imagine being on a car advert. I can see this being a big soundtrack to peoples’ summer.

Half of the album is the band doing what they do best, the other half is them experimenting, which is also what they do best. It’s just that I’m not that into those songs this time around. This is in no way a disappointment in any sense and absolutely a worthy addition to their distinguishable discography. And one thing Gimme Some doesn’t lack is energy. It is idiosyncratic in the shortest bursts of vigour that almost sounds like a garage rock band. For me, this is the band’s worst, but for those who thought Living Thing was too dark and bleak and wanted the sing-along jams like Objects of My Affection to return this is their perfect album. Gimme Some delivers is such a fulfilling way and conforms to the fans’ desires. They’ve managed to release a great pop album with the unmissed absence of whistling…

Written by Stephen Barker