Peter Moren: The Last Tycoon

Label: Quarterstick

It’s easy to forget sometimes that songs are important. The amount of energy, money and hype that goes into making a band well-known often overshadows the fact that their songs aren’t that great. Last year Peter Bjorn & John struck a winning combination of good songs and good press and made a ubiquitous indie pop classic with their Writer’s Block record. Principal songwriter Peter Moren takes things down even further with his first solo outing, The Last Tycoon. The arrangements are more spare but still call to mind everything that made the PB&J record so good, especially the shimmering strings of “Missing Link” or the Dylanesque harmonica solo of “Social Competence.” The best moments here, however, are the most intimate and naked tracks, feeling like the living-room demo that was way better than the over-thought final version, and allowing great songs to be nothing more and nothing less than great songs. (Fred)