With 2018's
Darker Days album, the venerable Swedish indie rockers
Peter Bjorn and John righted their listing ship by scaling back their operation and making music that recalled their glory days. 2020's
Endless Dream continues in that positive vein, and thanks to the hooky songcraft, inventive production, and emotional punches that sneak up to clock the listener every now and then, the record stands shoulder to shoulder with their best work. Like on the previous album, the band tracked the songs together in the studio, then the person who wrote the song took control and added the finishing touches. The process helped establish a firmly unified sonic foundation while still allowing for each member's idiosyncratic style to blossom. As usual,
Peter Moren comes up with the big, poppy songs with great choruses tailor-made for his warm embrace of a voice. "Reason to Be Reasonable" is expansive new wave pop with a lively arrangement that features timpani and zither, "Endless Reruns" has a lovely melody framed by sweetly jangling guitars, and both "Simple Song of Sin" and "On the Brink" are deeply felt, brilliantly put together songs; the latter even gets baroquely epic in the verses in a way the band haven't ever been before.
Björn Yttling's songs are more restrained, a little weird around the edges, but still almost naggingly catchy. The opening "Music" is the kind of peppy, slightly off-kilter song that lodges in the pleasure center of the brain, "Rusty Nail" shows off his knack for crafting oddball instrumental hooks, and on "Out of Nowhere," he drops his guard a bit to dig into some real melancholy. His songs definitely give
Peter's a run for the money this time around in the should-be-hits sweepstakes.
John Eriksson, as usual, isn't looking to write hits, though. He's the group's experimental tinkerer, and his tracks are filled with shifting dynamics, strange sounds, and treated vocals, especially on the restrained, slightly malevolent "Drama King" or the jittery new wave rocker "A Week-End." Add in the reverb-heavy, jazz-on-the-moon ballad "Idiosyncrasy," and you have a nice balance to the sugary pop the other two guys concoct. Not to say
John's tracks aren't hooky; they just take an extra minute to sink in. It's hard to believe that after two decades together as a band
Peter Bjorn and John are still making records as intense, energetic, inventive, and vital as
Endless Dream. It's true, though, and like
Darker Days, the album is another reward to those who stuck around and a reminder to those who may have bailed that the trio are still knocking out some top-notch indie rock.