Peter Bjorn and John: Living Thing

Remember the fun interview Thom Monahan did with Björn Yttling in #65? He and his famous whistling band (with Peter Morén and John Eriksson) return with their fourth album. It's catchy, but probably doesn't feature anything as insidious as "Young People" - maybe that's good? The sparse feel of much of this album reminds me of early Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark with a lot of space in the mix and lots of cool reverb-soaked percussion and wobbly synths - quite a cool sound in my book. Living Thing was produced by the group and Lasse Mårtén. Sessions went down all over the world between January and September 2008 - in Stockholm at Atlantis Studio, Decibel Studios, Högalid Studio; in Los Angeles at Thom's Melva; in Västerås at the School of Rock (!) in Skallbergsskolan; at Capitol Studios in L.A. and wonderful Sear Sound, New York (issue #41). Mixed by Lasse at Sear Sound and Decibel Studios, Stockholm. Engineers included Janne Hansson, Lasse, Tommy Andersson, Tom Gloady and the band. Mastered by Henke Jonsson at the awesomely-named Masters of Audio, Stockholm. www.peterbjornandjohn.com -LC