Peter, Bjorn and John: 'Nothing to Worry About'
Peter, Bjorn and John are back – all three of them – with ‘Nothing to Worry About’, the new single that arrives on the 23rd of March and a week before their eagerly anticipated fifth album ‘Living Thing’. Although shot towards prominence on the back of 2006’s ‘Young Folks’, the Swedish trio have been plying their pop trade since 1999 but here, ten years on, they show that their sound is still fresh and dynamic; evidence of their continuing evolution as a diverse pop outfit, one capable of sticking around for another decade or so yet.
This song is instant, one written with all the hallmarks of a great comeback – a pounding bass drum and a vocal almost choir like in delivery which are then joined by a (excuse this next word, I couldn’t find a better one, retirement looms) funky electro back-drop. As I eluded to previously, one of the fantastic things about Peter, Bjorn and John is their ability to evolve continuously and seemingly at ease – the best thing I can say about this single is that it’s just nothing like ‘Young Folks’. It could be a different band were it not for the name emblazoned above the title, yet it’s every bit as good. Sure, it may not sell as many records because you can’t really whistle along to this one, but it is just shy of three minutes worth of superb pop song-writing and performance.
It seems these Scandinavians must really enjoy what they do, too – they’ve got nothing to worry about and neither should we seems the resonating message here. They’re admirably positive, immovably upbeat and capable of dragging surely even the dullest of moods back into daylight. Everyone needs music like this in their collection, the type you can fall back on whenever you need it.
This song itself covers a category you might not find elsewhere on their back catalogue – it’s got the backing of a hip-hop hit and it’s therefore no surprise that Kanye West supposedly can’t stop playing this – but the vocal allows it to delve into that category without being over indulgent or risk alienating those fans so accustomed to a hook to hang on to. My only real issue with this record is that it’s less than three minutes long and I get tired of refreshing the page I’m listening to it on.
It’s great though – like this dangled carrot of a preview leading me one way; towards a record shop on March 23rd. I just know their album is going to be better than the last – call it a premonition or something, but this single promises so much and of Peter, Bjorn and John we can usually expect one thing – delivery.
8/10
Words: Benjamin Coley
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