ALMOST GOLD
2009
Living Thing
About This Album
Since "Young Folks" was such an inescapable smash for them in 2007, it would have been easy for Peter Bjorn and John to try to follow in its bubblegummy footsteps and become a happy, shiny pop band with a strong line in novelty songs. Instead, the trio first released an instrumental album (Seaside Rock) in late 2008 and then returned with the much darker, less bubbly album Living Thing in the spring of 2009. That being said, Writer's Block wasn't that upbeat, and apart from "Young Folks" and a couple other tracks, its sound and lyrical themes were pretty gloomy at heart. There were plenty of guitars, though, and that's a big difference, as Living Thing continues the trio's effort to refine and reduce its sound into just the essential elements needed to put the songs across. To that end, guitars make only occasional cameos and basses, too, are rarely heard, as the bulk of the album is based around percussion and voices. The percussion isn't straight drums, usually they are tweaked or electronic, and often the instruments the band does feature, like piano and synthesizer, are used for their percussive value. It's an approach often found in hip-hop, and it's possible that the bands' association with Kanye West opened their ears to new ways of presenting their songs.
Track List (try tracks 2,3,4,6,8 and 9)

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