CD Reviews

Peter Bjorn and John | Seaside Rock

Almost Gold/Star Time | 2008

By SAM UBL | October 1, 2008

2.0 Stars

A humble album I would’ve dug much more a few years back — when most indie rock couldn’t figure out how not to be overbearing and instrumental albums offered a refreshing escape from the tyranny of pussified vocalists like Ben Gibbard and what’s-his-name from Interpol — Seaside Rock amounts to a log of underhashed production ideas from the test kitchen. It would seem that on the heels of their trademark “Young Folks” (a horizontal hit this correspondent has encountered on some very unlikely dance floors) Peter Bjorn and John developed a following enthusiastic enough to justify the indulgence. I’m not complaining because, as I said, this is innocuous stuff, all wide-panning Morricone-esque scenery that won’t disrupt your dinner. And even if I think it’s a waste of polycarbonate plastic, that’s no guarantee fans will. Middle child Björn Yttling moonlights and then some as a producer for such Swedish pop lights as Lykke Li, and the orchestra-stab-punctuated new-wave vamp “School of Kraut” does indeed feel like half of an equation: skilled backing band in search of funky hip singer. As with lots of instrumental rock albums, the music tries to tell stories without words — “Needles and Pills” cuts a fife-propelled arc across Scandinavian verdure. It’s really pointless. And somewhat nice.

Power-surge pop
Peter Bjorn and John, Paradise Rock Club, May 4, 2007
John McCain's economic philosophy
Big Fat Whale
Stockholm calling
Peter Bjorn and John, El Perro del Mar, and Lo-Fi Fink lead the new Swedish invasion
More

Topics: CD Reviews , Peter Bjorn and John , Peter Bjorn and John , Sam Ubl , More

Comments

Add a Comment

ARTICLES BY SAM UBL

PETER BJORN AND JOHN | SEASIDE ROCK | October 01, 2008
Almost Gold/Star Time | 2008

YOUNG JEEZY | THE RECESSION | September 10, 2008
Def Jam

FRIENDLY FIRES | September 02, 2008
Friendly Fires | XL

LYKKE LI | August 26, 2008
Youth Novels | Atlantic

PERHAPST | August 19, 2008
Perhapst | In Music We Trust

See all articles by: SAM UBL

Most Viewed

Most Emailed

SPACE COWBOY
For more than 50 years, UConn physics professor Ronald Mallett had a secret. Now that it's out, we may be one step closer to traveling back in time.

BATTLING SCIENTOLOGY
Anonymous's Gregg Housh is committed to bringing down the Church of Scientology. Is he a gadfly or a goon?

BOB DYLAN UNBOXED
Everything you wanted to know about Tell-Tale Signs but were afraid to buy

PHOTOS: MADONNA AT THE GARDEN
Madonna at TD Banknorth Garden, October 15, 2008

I HAD AN ABORTION
Forty percent of American women have abortions by the time they're 45. I'm one of them.

BATTLING SCIENTOLOGY
Anonymous's Gregg Housh is committed to bringing down the Church of Scientology. Is he a gadfly or a goon?

SPACE COWBOY
For more than 50 years, UConn physics professor Ronald Mallett had a secret. Now that it's out, we may be one step closer to traveling back in time.