Peter Bjorn and John - “Second Chance”
So. Due to some ill-advised Tumblr-ing and movie-watching last night and the kind of day at the office that will make me appreciate the next four days off that much more (pointless mini-vacation, y’all!!), today’s Writings At Popcorn Noises are later than the usual and more filled with conspiracy theories. Whoa whoa whoa, what am I talking about? Well you know that new Peter Bjorn And John album? The one that you’re not that excited about because the first song was just kinda ‘meh’ and besides they are so totally 2006 anyway? They’ve put out another song-with-video recently and, my friends, I am telling you: there are some mysterious doings afoot in the land of Peanut Butter And Jelly.
Notice how eerily similar the “Second Chance” and “Breaker Breaker” videos are: the black background, the live-performance setup, the 3-camera technique (there’s Peter Cam, Bjorn Cam, and Band Cam…poor John), and the odd movements that catch you off guard at first but then reveal themselves to be a clever video editing trick. Last time, it was the double-speed film that suggested PB&J had learned to play the tune at half speed, but this time it goes even further off the deep end: the “Second Chance” clip is backwards, yo! These guys recorded a song, learned to play it in reverse, filmed themselves doing so while having stuff dumped on them, and then flipped the footage so it kinda-sorta makes visual sense. Have you ever listened to a regular song backwards? It’s an unpalatable mess of gobbledegook (apologies to fans of Pullhair Rubeye, if they exist) and trying to mime playing an instrument along with it would be an even more difficult task than trying to equal the chic pop appeal of “Young Folks.” This is ether the world’s most gifted, most dastardly, or most terminally bored band.
Though we may never know which of those adjectives most aptly applies to Peter Bjorn And John’s video-making skills, I believe based on the content of “Second Chance” that we can imprint a firm check mark in the “Jaded” box when it comes to songwriting. Like “Breaker,” this is another slice of ostensibly stylish, slightly distorted pop-rock that is not offensive to the ears per se, but which doesn’t exactly worm its way past the hammer, anvil, and stirrup for long either. Not that big a deal, sure, but what about those lyrics? “You can’t, can’t count on a second chance / a second chance will never be found / you can’t, can’t count on a second try / the second try will never come ‘round,” goes the chorus, a near perfect self-pitying reflection of “Breaker”s punkified fist-shaking. Maybe that 5.5 review really was a painful career-deadener or lightning really doesn’t ever strike twice or—just maybe—fame really is the ficklest of lovers. Whatever the reason, these three Swedes have gotten it into their heads that their 15 minutes are up and they’re unhappy about it to say the least.
Normally, the appropriate thing for an artist to do in this situation is retreat. Maybe try out a solo project, do a covers record, or get all down on yourself but disguise it as a break-up album—anything except face the sad, ugly truth. Not only do PB&J seem to be ignoring these conventions, but in doing so I predict they are slowly creating The Most Modular Album The World Has Ever Seen! Every song is basically the same! Every video spins off the same premise! Shuffle, scatter, trim, and trade all you want! There is no beginning and there is no end! It’s an album about wishing you were bulletproof that might actually be indestructible! Oh, what’s that, Mr. Tastemaking Critic? “It’s homogenous and predictable?” Like, duh! We totally planned it that way! Haven’t you seen these ridiculous videos?! You’ve done your worst to us and now there’s nothing you can say that could possibly poke another hole in our life raft! We’re floating on mesh, ya dig?
