The Morning After: Living Thing by Peter Bjorn and John

Living Thing released March 31 on Almost Gold

Report Card: C+

Peter Bjorn and John, blessed as they can be, have for a while appeared to be dodging accountability for the unexpected leap into international fame caused by “Young Folks,” and that song’s ubiquity (think radio, think television, think McDonald’s, think JC Penny), put the somewhat awkward north-Euros into a spotlight their personalities weren’t quite prepared for. That fact has been evident in their declining live show, as what was once a bouncy and playful romp through retro-rock and white guy dance moves has turned into a mostly joyless electronic sleepwalk, complete with a lack of connection to the audience befitting a band with audience to spare. To PB&J’s benefit, they haven’t fallen asleep at the experimental wheel, as their clever post-Writer’s Block misdirection Seaside Rock (a slight make-up for Peter Moren’s hideously bland solo album) wandered through instrumental and field recording reels, thus refusing to whet the appetite of a legion of pop-fanatics desperate for another tune to whistle into the ground.

But now’s the time to pay up, and the early videos for Living Thing bred significant promise that a tour de force was on its way. Yet while Living Thing often feels like it’s about to break out into awesomeness, its nearly aimless restraint and general messing around prevents its best moments from building into new best moments, and aids its too-numerous shakinesses in hogging the stage. Three years ago it would have been strange to think of Peter Bjorn and John as merely a singles band, but Living Thing points in that direction: a few well-done, complete pop songs surrounded by fodder that makes this seem less like an album and more like a collection of singles and B-sides. Still, though, the singles are nice: standing out are the smile-making “Nothing to Worry About,” the profanity-infused party of “Lay It Down,” and the darkly satisfying “It Don’t Move Me.” Failing to fully come together is pretty much everything else, including a mismatched title track that in its Gabriel-aping awkwardly fits as an eyebrow-raising mission statement for the album.

But really, it’s a terrible shame, because there was a reason why Writer’s Block went from under the radar to overexposed: it was freaking good. It was the sound of a band finding themselves with a balance of cleverness, challenge, and pop, a nerdy ode to the romantic rock star, all with a singular effortlessness that you could bob your head to. But with the confusing and awkward (there’s that word “awkward” again) development that is the hit-or-miss Living Thing, the intellectual property of prior victories becomes all the further removed, thus making it seem less and less likely that Peter Bjorn and John will recapture the magic. Will they ever have another huge single? Possibly, and perhaps even soon. But will they ever again impress that first round of listeners whose groundswell of support launched “Young Folks” into the ears of everyone from Kanye West to Regis Philbin? Unfortunately, it looks less likely now than it did even three months ago.