Falling Out

The North American debut for Stockholm, Sweden trio Peter Bjorn And John, on Hidden Agenda Records. Falling Out is a assemblage of ingenious pop songs, cleverly recorded and masterfully arranged, sounds drawn from the simple (the Speak & Spell talking toy that opens the album) to the symphonic (tidy string arrangements). Think early Squeeze and The Jam and several decades worth of British Invasion, Canadian popsmiths A.C. Newman and Joel Plaskett, and the euphoric rush of The Shins. 10 songs about falling in and Falling Out of love with people, places, and ideas. Includes the Swedish singles “It Beats Me Every Time” and “Teen Love” (a Concretes cover) and the standout album opener “Far Away, By My Side”.

Songwriters Peter Morén and Björn Yttling (producer/arranger for Concretes, Shout Out Louds, Nicolai Dunger, among others) have been writing songs since their teens but it wasn’t until hooking up with drummer John Eriksson in 1999 that the collaboration bore fruit. And since then the band has under their belt 4 singles, 3 Eps, and 2 full-length albums (Falling Out being their second) and hundreds of live appearances.