>>PREVIEW
PETER BJORN AND JOHN
Friday, May 11
MacEwan Hall (U of C)
Peter Morén, the cheery 30-year-old lead singer of Swedish indie rock sensations, Peter Bjorn and John (PB and J), is walking the bustling streets of Stockholm, making his way to a Jeans Team gig. The German electro-folk-pop quartet has joined the legions of other bands remixing and mashing-up PB and J since the trio exploded last year with the brilliant and shimmery pop masterpiece, Writer’s Block. An import release last year and a re-release this year, Writer’s Block will likely be one of those albums to top both Best of 2006 and 2007 lists.
Peter Bjorn and John’s quick ascension to fame is due to their perfect pop single, "Young Folks," a charming girl/boy duet featuring Morén and ex-Concretes singer Victoria Bergsman. (Bergsman and Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell have performed the part live.) Between the peppy whistling and catchy skip beat, "Young Folks" became the sugar fix for people of all ages. The love song and the rest of the wistfully romantic album rocketed the eight-year-old band to a level of popularity they’ve never seen, not even in their hometown.
"No, we’ve never been sensations. Anywhere," Morén laughs. "Just playing the tiniest clubs and making music and having jobs on the side. Of course, Björn (Yttling) is a producer as well, so he works with music and, of course, John (Eriksson) is the classical musician, so I’m really the only one that had to have a job."
Before their band took off, Morén had been studying to become a librarian, substitute teaching and working in a bookstore. (Current favourites include Joan Didion’s Play It as It Lays and absurdist French literature like Raymond Queneau’s Zazie in the Metro.) One of Sweden’s top percussionists, Eriksson is often occupied playing in the ensemble, Kroumata. He will appear on Bergsman’s solo debut along with Yttling, an immensely talented producer who has been recording the second album from fellow Swedes, Shout Out Louds.
While the trio splits songwriting duties and each member is a multi-instrumentalist, Morén is undoubtedly the most proficient at pulling the heartstrings. "Young Folks" aside, Morén also penned the winsome "Paris 2004" with lyrics like "While I’m sleeping, you paint a ring on my finger in black marker pen." When the band played eight shows in three days during the last South by Southwest, Morén affectionately prefaced the song by talking about his girlfriend each time he sang it. Which songs get him by the heart?
"Do you know that John Cale song ‘Andalucia?’ Yeah. That gets me. Or, ‘Candy Says’ by Velvet Underground. Whatever – ‘Over the Rainbow,’" he laughs. "I love great songs and people trying to open themselves up. The song you mentioned (‘Paris 2004’) – it’s just basically about me and my girlfriend, so it’s just basically from the diary."
While the next PB & J album is beginning to take shape, Moren is additionally working on a solo project and an instrumental project.
"It’s fun to do something without Bjorn interfering since we’ve been together for so long," he playfully jokes. "(We’re) like a couple that would have broken-up years and years ago if we were lovers. But we are not lovers. So, we stay together." |
Copyright ©2007 FFWD. All rights reserved.