Peter Bjorn and John

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• Genre: Dream Pop
• Peter Bjorn and John Website

About

Sweden's Peter Moren and Bjorn Yttling met as teenagers and played together for eight years before meeting John Eriksson in 1999. They released their eponymous debut in 2002, becoming darlings of the indie pop crowd, with even London's Rough Trade being moved to comment "nothing else sounds as good as Swedish pop right now." They followed this with Falling Out in 2004, and then 2006's Writer's Block, which came to prominence in the U.S. with the single "Young Folks," featuring the Concretes' Victoria Bergsman on vocals. In 2009, they released the sparser, more electro-powered Living Thing. Less twee than the Cardigans, and more approachable than the Velvet Underground, PB&J occupy that space previously owned by Orange Juice and the solo work by their singer Edwyn Collins -- wry, sophisticated indie pop with a wistful and melancholic air.

- Nicholas Baker