Last week I admitted to having never heard Peter Bjorn & John’s beloved Writer’s Block, and it took only minutes for the shit storm of “OMG*%$WTF”s to start flying. Well I finally listened to it so you can all stop thinking I’m a clueless fuck (unless you think I’m a clueless fuck for a completely unrelated reason, in which case, keep thinking it, ‘cause nothing else has changed).

After listening (thanks to Grandy for passing it along) and absorbing it over the weekend, I noticed the song “Young Folks” everywhere I went. You weren’t joking—it really has been playing everywhere. I heard it in the stores I went to, on the TV shows I watched, and during long car rides in my sister’s mini van… but “Young Folks” isn’t my favorite track on the album. It’s good, but I think it’s rather unremarkable by itself which is probably why I never gave PB&J much attention until now.

In fact, now that I think about it, I remember hearing it in the Gap or some mall store a few months ago thinking “Wow, this band really has mastered the art of combining everything KEXP has ever wanted in an indie pop song… dopey guy vocals, boring female harmonies, whistling, a too cool attitude offset with a catchy-as-fuck chorus. Every time I heard it I thought it was annoyingly hip.

I still kind of do, actually. But I like it a lot more in the context of the rest of the record, which isn’t super exciting, but it is fairly charming and well-crafted.

It starts out strong with trio of memorable tracks—“Objects of My Affection,” “Young Folks,” and “Amsterdam” (which is my favorite right now, and according to the comments left, it’s your favorite too). It goes into “Start to Melt” which sounds like the Shins if the Shins were to use a lot of distortion/fuzz and start singing with accents. I like bass-heavy and simple vintage pop sound showcased in “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off,” and I surprisingly like the monotony of “Roll the Credits.”

It’s the kind of record I might listen to while baking cookies in the winter. It’s the kind of record that I might listen to while talking a long walk on a cold November morning. In fact, I really, really want PB&J to put out a Christmas record; I think PB&J would write a fantastic Christmas record.

Anyway, back to Writer’s Block and how I managed to avoid it for a year…

“Poor Cow” is the only song that really bores me, and in my list of favorites, “Young Folks” is one of my least favorites, so no wonder I ignored them as long as I did. I thought that’s all PB&J did, and I thought what PB&J did was bore me.

The point is, you were all right after all, and Writer’s Block is pretty good and I’m sorry I didn’t learn that until last week. I wouldn’t say it’s one of the finest pop records of last year, but it’s good. And maybe eventually, after a few more listens, the temptation to turn it off and just listen to the Magnetic Fields instead will completely subside.