Peter Morén of Peter Bjorn and John Details the Influences and Creation of ‘Breakin’ Point’

Matt Matasci

It’s hard to believe that a decade has passed since Peter Bjorn and John took the world by storm with their whistling ditty “Young Folks.” The quirky earworm nature of the song allowed it to capitalize on the rising popularity of indie pop in the mid-’00s; “Writer’s Block,” the album it is taken from, is considered a defining record of the period’s indie music scene. The Swedish trio has not reached the same level of mainstream notoriety over their subsequent three studio albums, though, in many ways, they have achieved something greater. The group hse remained resolute pushing the boundaries of pop music, making unorthodox songwriting decisions and incorporating disparate musical influences.

“Breakin’ Point” continues down the left-of-center path the group has been forging since their commercial breakthrough, mixing at times melancholy lyricism with danceable rhythms and upbeat melodies. While the band has evolved, they have not completely changed. This much is evidenced by the fact that they are not afraid to use whistling in their songs like on the single “Breakin’ Point.” Guitarist and vocalist Peter Morén took the time to discuss the recording and writing of “Breakin’ Point” and future recording plans for Peter Bjorn and John.  

Between building a studio, working on solo material and starting a record label, the three of you have been hard at work since your last LP. How does it feel to be back with a new album after five years?

It feels like it’s been a bit too long, to be honest. We started recording late in ‘12, so I think we thought it would come at least in ‘14. But sometimes it happens like that I suppose. We were a little directionless at first; wrote some great songs but couldn’t find the right arrangements or production and scrapped some versions and started fresh again. I would say after all this time it almost feels like a comeback, which makes it even more exciting than usual but also more anxiety-filled. It feels like a lot is at stake, and we invested a lot of our self into this record – time, money, energy. However it goes, I’m super-duper proud of it!

After a longer-than-usual period away from making music together, did the creative process change at all for “Breakin’ Point” when compared to your previous releases?

After trying out recording some songs and not getting what we wanted we sort of went back to the drawing table, sat in one room just the three of us with guitars and pencils and crafted the songs from scratch. We sort of wanted to make sure we had the best lyrics, melodies, form, key and tempo for every song. We also decided the songs should clock in at under four minutes, which we succeeded with! So we didn’t have a set dogma for the production as we’ve had in the past. No, it was the song first and then the production had to follow. But we did discuss flirting with disco.

So that way of working, of course, took longer . . . dipping our feet in lots of stylistic waters. Also, the no-deadline thing and plenty of producers involved can make it lengthy – lots of busy schedules. But we’ve [learned] a lot through this process, so I think it’ll be quicker next time. But as I said, we were never away from each other at all. It was more a gradual and constant rethink of how to make a record that we got emerged in. Also, we had some kids along the way, which also takes time.

One of the most widely-publicized qualities of “Breakin’ Point” is the cast of producers who were brought in to assist with recording. What played into the decision to bring these outside voices into the mix and how do you find it affected the overall sound of the album?

We started out wanting to have at least two producers. On “Gimme Some,” we had one guy only, which was great for that record’s power-pop “live-group” style. But this time, we wanted to go total “pop,” whatever that implies. We wanted to do an eclectic, colorful record with lots of different textures; singer-songwriter qualities as well as dance-pop qualities, and maybe also have stuff that we normally wouldn’t have thought of bringing in ourselves or wouldn’t have dared to.

Since we thought of the record as song-based and not concept-based, we treated them all like “nuggets” or “singles” and then suddenly it didn’t feel strange to open up the gates to a lot of collaborators. Find the right person for the right tracks or track, tailor-make it and up the brilliance of each piece hopefully. It also kept the energy level up. It’s easier to collaborate on three songs than on 12.

And everyone did their best on the ones they were given. So win-win. Apart from maybe the time thing again.

While certainly not your first album to feature pop and dance influences, “Breakin’ Point” does have a sound that is quite different from your previous work. What sorts of new inspiration points did each of the three of you bring when writing and recording this album?

We did listen to a little current chart-pop [songs] as a reference but sort of found we couldn’t compete on those terms but maybe still could hint at a “currency” in some of the production. And that’s, of course, where the producers came in as well. We wanted their expertise but not to change us per se. More like splash color on our black & white canvas; so all of them were inspiring and just knowing what other stuff they had done and what they could bring to us from that angle.

Some newer R&B stuff like Frank Ocean, The Weeknd, Drake and such we all like more or less.

Otherwise, for me personally, I had to ask myself “so we’re doing pop . . . . What is pop to me?”

And my background is ‘50s and ‘60s pop and soul [like] Buddy Holly, Everly Brothers, Smokey Robinson, Phil Spector, Red Bird Records, Beach Boys, British Invasion bands, etc. I especially thought of the early girl-group-inspired Beatles stuff, which to me is as pure pop as it can get and really underrated still. But then we all have the background and lineage of growing up in the late ‘70s and ‘80s; stuff that was on the radio and that our dads played: ELO, Wings, Abba, Bee Gees, Eurythmics, Michael Jackson, Pet Shop Boys, Bowie, a-ha, New Order, etc.; stuff I still really love often fantastic songwriting.

And there that disco-influence comes in really naturally, also like ELO and ABBA, mixing that up with almost folk-pop and big acoustic guitars, something we do on this record, too. But we also talked about “real” disco: Donna Summer, Philly International and such. And then we have our indie-past with Madchester, shoegaze and ‘80s and ‘90s guitar-pop that we can’t shake completely. So sometimes those traditions get intertwined and that actually works really well like on, for instance, “A Long Goodbye” and “Love is What You Want.” But there’s also some traces of hip-hop in the way we think about beats [as there] always has been.

Musically, “Breakin’ Point” is an upbeat record but dig a little deeper and the lyrics reveal darker themes. What is your secret for juxtaposing such cheerful music with a more melancholy lyrical outlook?

To be honest, it just comes [naturally]. We never talked it through. And we have done that on all records more or less. I’ve always liked that in other people as well.

A lot of those early “cheerful” Beatles’ songs actually have negative lyrics, Motown as well, and ABBA. It’s a long pop-tradition, and I guess we have through the years felt most inspired when feeling miserable. But funny enough, our most popular record, “Writer’s Block,” has the most positive lyrics.

So maybe we should do more happy songs? But it’s always [done] with melancholy as well. Well-dressed melancholy . . . like in French chanson. I like when lyrics feel like life. Life is seldom “I’m gonna slit up my wrist” or “I’m so happy that I go bananas.” It’s often somewhere in between. And if a song is overtly happy it’s almost like it’s either a children’s song or some sort of black/dark humor or lunacy lurking about. And that’s almost scarier than a sad song. And I enjoy all those sorts really. We have a lot of self-dissing and self-awareness, too, and I love that in writers when you can joke about yourself and how miserable you are like Costello, Cohen or Morrissey.

When looking back at the Peter Bjorn and John discography, the three of you have covered an impressive amount of stylistic ground. What sort of ideas do you have for your next batch of tunes?

I would love to make a pop record that’s quite mellow and mature with mainly acoustic guitars, pianos and strings . . . and bass and drums, of course. Not just ballads or anything but still a little folky. Having said that, we haven’t discussed it really. I know John would like to do an out and out electro album so it might end up like this one – more is more, everything at once. The more the merrier!

Peter Bjorn and John’s “Breakin’ Point” is available on June 10 from Apple Music.