Peter Bjorn and John - Living Thing

Rating:

* * *

Compared to the pop brilliance of

Young Folks

off 2006's

Writer's Block

the new album by this trio of Swedish blokes is a stark contrast. While

Living Thing

has magical melodic highs, like the ridiculously naive-sounding

I Want You

, there are also dissonant and fractured tracks like the creepily titled and even creepier sounding

The Feeling

. And lead single

Nothing To Worry About

, with its schoolyard chorus racket, has nothing on the poise and jaunty power of

Young Folks

.

Then again, on the electronic baroque pop of

Blue Period Picasso

and the drunk, robotic journey of

I'm Losing My Mind

the Stockholm band conjures up a sound so unusual and intriguing that it's almost certain to impress the socks off your friends and even, a new boyfriend or girlfriend.

Other highlights include

It Don't Move Me

, like Human League or ABC, only more cute and electronic than camp and new romantic, and the woozy twang of

Living Thing

.

This edition of the album also comes with last year's oddball, mostly instrumental album,

Seaside Rock

- more proof of their whackiness.

For how all over the place it is,

Living Thing

is a good album but it sounds a little wayward and random in the way it unfolds.

Scott Kara