Peter Bjorn and John – Living Thing

Sometimes you know an album is great ”“ really great ”“ but you just don’t know why. And sometimes an album is really great because of so many reasons and that to list just a few is to devalue said album. Thus, we have Peter Bjorn and John’s new triumph, Living Thing. The record has qualities of both aforementioned quandaries, and it may be because it’s just that good. That said, a critic admitting that there’s nothing to say (or that can be said) about something would be pathetic, so here ‘goes. PBJ might as well have called this new offering Jubilation, ‘cause that’s what permeates the entire record. Well, that or childhood glee. Whatever it is, it certainly adds ambiance to the album, something that modern music wholly lacks. While some of the tracks have lyrics that might suggest otherwise, musically the album has that the-world-is-gigantic mentality that every infant experiences at some point. That is to say, the band manages to dwell in its own splendor while simultaneously ensuring that the listener is in on it. Every song sounds as if PBJ are creating music for the very first time. To wit, ‘The Feeling’ has handclaps as its main source of percussion. Who does that anymore? To that end, the songs themselves are all self-contained and yet somehow still maintain an overall cohesion throughout. By themselves, ‘Nothing to Worry About’ and ‘I’m Losing My Mind’ have nothing to do with each other and, in theory, should not be consecutive on a record. But this is PBJ that we’re talking about. So, of course, the song with the most elastic bass line of the decade so far, and a chorus of child backup singers (‘Nothing’) is paired with a stoner-rock indie pop song. (How many oxymorons is that?) And it makes sense.If you’re still not sold on this album, ask yourself the following question: Do I need an album that has a song containing a line in the chorus that goes, “Hey, shut the fuck up, boy/ You are starting to piss me off”? Of course you do. 90%Peter, Bjorn & John on Myspace