Album Review: Peter, Bjorn and John – Gimme Some
Peter, Bjorn and John’s last effort at an album in the shape of ‘Living Thing’ was a thoroughly disappointing record: I mean, really, I just did not enjoy it, and there is little else I could say about that album. So why should we care that they are releasing a new album? Well, because this one is a completely different beast to ‘Living Thing’. ‘Gimme Some’ from start to finish is a return to form by the Swedish poppers and by god, it couldn’t have come sooner.
Something had to have changed as the extent of the difference to their last record is immeasurable; whatever did go on, it was about time, and Peter, Bjorn and John (PBJ) are definitely back to form. PBJ are a band that my dad described as having the best whistling he had ever heard in a record. But there is no whistling to be heard in this record; whistling aside, there is a lot to be commended about this album.
Namely, the choruses are back, and by god they are just as good as I wanted them to be. Songs like ‘Breaker Breaker’ and ‘Eyes’ are perfect in their formation and really give some life to this record, something that was definitely missing in ‘Living Thing’. Sadly, this record does fall short of reaching the heady heights that their first effort ‘Writer’s Block’ did, but that’s no bad thing, ‘Gimme Some’ is a different record, it’s a grown-up record that may take a while to grow on to you but is thoroughly worth it.
Stand-out track though is the aforementioned ‘Eyes’: with its mix of harmonies and psychedelic guitar riffs, it makes a point of being somewhat different from the rest of the album. Overall then, PBJ have stepped it up with ‘Gimme Some’ and really look like they are back in their stride with this record. Whether greater things are to come, we don’t know – all we know is that right now they are back to making great pop music, and that’s something we can all be happy about.
8/10
Peter, Bjorn and John’s ‘Gimme Some’ is available now from Cooking Vinyl.
Leave Your Response