The first single of the album “Nothing to Worry About” is also a highlight, though its significance may be accidental. Living Thing finished recording last year almost around the exact time Lehman Brothers collapsed, so while the housing bubble had burst, its impact on the financial market was probably not fully felt by the time Peter Bjorn & John wrote “Nothing to Worry About”’s chant “Doing this thing this type of thing / Put a little money in this time of thing / I got nothing to worry about.” Years of hip-hop songs opening with high-pitched singing and a yard-stomping opening refrain have caused us to forget it’s as much a pop convention as a hip-hop one. The song doesn’t have the kind of transcendence of a “Hard Knock Life,” or “Gold Digger,” but the fact that the chorus vocals for this song are provided by kids (including the School of Rock kids) who will be screwed over most by this economy means this song is as much of an accidentally poignant song as “B.O.B.,” a song sure to make any song of the decade list for the same kind of political significance.
For me, however, the real highlight on the album is the title track, which closes the albums mystifying first half for a mostly forgettable second. If you’re one of those indie types who considers Animal Collective gods but can’t bring yourself to like Vampire Weekend, “Living Thing is the best kind of medicine you can get, as it is as similar to “Lion in a Coma” as it is to “A-Punk.” White guys taking African and Aboriginal rhythms is nothing new, and at the very least, Peter Bjorn and John should be commended for creating a track that ranks with this year’s best without the use of samples.
The only other notable track is the one that will polarize and anger audiences the most, “Lay It Down,” a half-catchy song that annoys just about everyone with it’s opening lyric “Hey, shut the fuck up boy / you are starting to piss me off” the casual obscenity of the opener will blind many to the fact that the rest of the song is castigating a manipulative indie boy for using and degrading a vulnerable female, a topic you rarely see in music, but one we should be hearing more about.
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