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Written by Jaffa Aharonov Thursday, 17 July 2008 09:23

The Last Tycoon is not what I would call a bad album. I can listen to it. It is pleasant.

I really love Peter Bjorn & John's Writer's Block. It's fun, indie pop. Yes, you might sometimes hear it at the grocery store and feel a little embarrassed about wanting to sing along to "Young Folks" while wisely choosing your tomatoes, but oh well. I was excited when I heard that Peter Morén was releasing a solo album. He obviously writes good songs; I had my expectations up for The Last Tycoon.

It turns out you might really need the butter and jelly. A large helping of peanut, only peanut, really isn't going to cut it. From what I've read, The Last Tycoon is a collection of Morén's songs that he did not feel would match with the overall styling of PB&J songs. For the most part, this is an accurate assumption. Left behind are the pop sensibility and danciness, replaced with quiet singer-songwriter folkiness.

The Last Tycoon is not what I would call a bad album. I can listen to it. It is pleasant. The songs are okay and, if I listen to one or two, I actually enjoy it. A song like "This Is What I Came For" would stand out better elsewhere. It's a cute and subdued and somewhat longish song complete with polite handclaps. It would be a nice acoustic song that could have been a nice addition to, say, the next PB&J album. Songs that have the ability to stand out are dragged down byI hate to say it—more boring tunes. My attention span can't really deal with the album as a whole, as it melds itself into one long song.

I don't think I have to worry about any of the songs from this album turning up the next time I'm staring at goat cheese or bread at Whole Foods, but maybe the next time I'm writing a review at a coffee shop, the voice of Peter Morén, á la carte, will surface inconspicuously in the background. C | Jaffa Aharonov

RIYL: PB&J and singer-songwriter stuff that I don't really know about