Peter, Bjorn and John - 'Seaside Rock' (Wichita) Released 13/10/08

Call me a schlep, but  Peter, Björn and John scored such a benchmark hit with 'Young Folks' that you couldn't step out of the house without tripping over it. So what have they gone and done. Got all instrumental and conceptual with notions of seaside holidays for a follow-up album and released it only on vinyl/MP3 format. Peter, Björn and John have their own private agendas in the world of production and in Peter Morén's case with the solo release of his 'The Last Tycoon', but there's little of the classic 60's baroque pop that informed 'Writer's Block' to make it such a hit, and naught of the warm Elvis Costello-like tones of Morén - for on 'Seaside Rock' there's nay songs to be had. Catchy or not, what do we love about these guys?

The wonderfully scudsy opener 'Inland Empire' sounds mysteriously like a bastardised instrumental of Gorillaz 'Dirty Harry', with omnipotent drums, zither and angular bass joined by klaxon horns and sax, heading crosstown for a rollicking noise-fest, and 'School Of Kruit' crops up with a motorik beats, blasts of sampled steel drum and a drive like their humdinger tune, 'The Chills'. That's for the best bits. Yet a child-like charm infuses the riff saturated working of that old chestnut, 'Needles And Pins', with a recorder (the instrument you'd try to play in school) and a mighty fine whistle reprising the melody and taking the track to places never before envisioned, finishing with a wig-out finale of deeply satisfying proportions. Meanwhile, back at the beach, 'Barcelona' cherishes an ambient meditation a la Robin Guthrie from xylophone and meandering piano that brings about a goosebump, while a tasty harmonica cannot reprise the sand in the butties of the cheesy 'At The Seaside' - let's say it's hard not to witness a grinning Judith Chalmers endorsement.

'Say Something (Mukiya)' comes across all polite with gaiety from steel drum and pattering drums to form a Swedish/Caribbean entente cordial with a dubby bass kick, while on 'Favour Of The Season', glockenspiel curries favour amidst finger clicks, hand-claps and Atari-like retro-synth. Forgive the Anglo-centric viewpoint, but what quite is being said of the narrative threads that crop up on 'Next Stop Bjursele' and the spoken word of 'Erik's Fishing Trip' is, hmmmm, anyone's guess -  the former with equal measures of candy keyboard melody and gritty ambiance, the latter an old boy's reflections of times gone by? Meanwhile, 'Norrlands Riviera' is another Swedish spoken word which sounds like the chaps have found some Brigette Bardot with oozy sexy voice, all sultry-toned and sexy phonetics, and what a good foil for phone sex that'd be if the imagination where left to run awhile.

They may be more affable than a Volvo, but 'Seaside Rock' is bound to confound and flummox even the most diehard of fans. It's hard not to see it as a stop-gap between albums proper where P,B & J can get there heads together and work on the things they do best - namely, cracking pop tunes! As such, the concept here wears thin. It''s like a Swedish take on Future Loop Foundation's 'A Fading Room' with reflections as contributions in a Swedish tongue, yet, sadly, 'Seaside Rock' is beached by the lack of any songs and fails to pick up a tan.