Seeking to continue the breakout momentum Peter Bjorn and John enjoyed in 2007, group member Peter Moren is keeping his plate full with two albums due this year and a third on the way.
First up is his solo effort, "The Last Tycoon," due April 8 via Quarterstick. Recorded in various apartments and friend's houses, the album strays far from his group's signature brand of Swedish indie-pop in favor of a much more quiet approach.
"It was important to keep it low-key. It was initially just going to be a guitar, like a Bert Jansch record," Moren tells Billboard.com. The album sprung from sessions for PBJ's "Writer's Block" album; Moren had the idea for the song "Le Petit Coeur," wanting the sound to be more "melancholy and romantic" than the "Krautroc-kish sound" the group favored.
"I started to think of other songs to go with it -- not thinking about an album, but just a project," Moren says. After that, he dug up some older songs from earlier in his career and wrote some more new ones. "It feels like a whole now," he says.
If that wasn't enough, Peter Bjorn and John have finished recording an instrumental album with the working title "Seaside Rock." "Some songs are African/Brazilian music, then there are a couple of Kraut/punk, and some are lounge songs," he says, laughing at the diverse nature. "The backgrounds are all bass/guitar/piano or bass/guitar/drums, but the melodies are played on different things." The album should be out in the fall.
Peter Bjorn and John are also heading back to the studio next week to record another pop album. Moren then will head stateside in April for a two-week string of shows starting in New York. And although his group wound up playing large clubs in late 2007, Moren says he's looking forward to getting back to more intimate environs for his own gigs. "It's going to be very spur of the moment and laidback," he says.
First up is his solo effort, "The Last Tycoon," due April 8 via Quarterstick. Recorded in various apartments and friend's houses, the album strays far from his group's signature brand of Swedish indie-pop in favor of a much more quiet approach.
"It was important to keep it low-key. It was initially just going to be a guitar, like a Bert Jansch record," Moren tells Billboard.com. The album sprung from sessions for PBJ's "Writer's Block" album; Moren had the idea for the song "Le Petit Coeur," wanting the sound to be more "melancholy and romantic" than the "Krautroc-kish sound" the group favored.
"I started to think of other songs to go with it -- not thinking about an album, but just a project," Moren says. After that, he dug up some older songs from earlier in his career and wrote some more new ones. "It feels like a whole now," he says.
If that wasn't enough, Peter Bjorn and John have finished recording an instrumental album with the working title "Seaside Rock." "Some songs are African/Brazilian music, then there are a couple of Kraut/punk, and some are lounge songs," he says, laughing at the diverse nature. "The backgrounds are all bass/guitar/piano or bass/guitar/drums, but the melodies are played on different things." The album should be out in the fall.
Peter Bjorn and John are also heading back to the studio next week to record another pop album. Moren then will head stateside in April for a two-week string of shows starting in New York. And although his group wound up playing large clubs in late 2007, Moren says he's looking forward to getting back to more intimate environs for his own gigs. "It's going to be very spur of the moment and laidback," he says.
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