Gimme Some
Album | Peter, Bjorn & John
Frothy, infectious alt-pop perfection
What is about the Swedes that seems to make them such uncanny masters of perky pop anyway? You'd think that the breeding ground of August Strindberg and Ingmar Bergman would sprout something darker than the frothy, infectious alt-pop perfection of Peter Bjorn and John, who continue to abjure both bleakness and comma-centric nomenclature with their fifth proper album, not counting 2008's limited-edition Seaside Rock. Five years on from the trio's breakthrough hit Writer's Block, sparkling melodies and irresistible grooves still abound, but while PB&J's production aesthetic was never particularly elaborate, it's more stripped-down than ever here. In fact, it almost seems like the sunny Swedes specifically decided to take the bare essentials of vocals, guitar, bass, and drums, and see how many indelible pop nuggets they could assemble with only those basic materials: in that way, the feeling is not unlike that of the early Police albums, though they don't sound particularly similar. And the musical values inherent in the makeup of Gimme Some are timeless enough to have emerged from any point in time from Outlandos D'Amour onwards.
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