The Airportline: Observations

One of last year’s must under-rated album was Peter Bjorn and Johns Living Thing. Coming off the success of their breakthrough album Writer’s Block they made sure to alienate as many people as possible by throwing out the warm sound of that output and instead land in a colder, more detached and minimalistic landscape. On Living Thing the band steered away from easy to digest melodies of Writers Block favorites like Paris 2004 and Young Folks.

I struggled with that change at first but eventually grew to like their new sound as the songs started to settle, and even though there is a coldness creeping around, the band never forgot how to be blue eyed romantics (I Want You!), funny (Living Thing) and deliver of the most amazing pop anthems of 2009 (Nothing To Worry About). Peter Bjorn and John have always walked their own way and there is a lot to be said for that. In this video by Amsterdam Acoustics they turn It Don’t Move Me into a celebration of musical creativity aided by what must be one of the coolest pianos on the planet.

Below are two other noteworthy video from the people at Amsterdam Acoustics, one where one of my true artistic role models, Erlend Øye plays on an Amsterdam tram, displaying some of the cities stunning beauty when the weather is good (I forgot the weather could be good here!) and a beautifully toned down and melancholic version of Passion Pits normally over the top The Reeling. Thanks to Katharina and Antoinette for opening my eyes to these recordings.