Peter Bjorn and John
“Gimme Some”(Almost Gold)
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Swedish rockers Peter Bjorn and John mostly are known for their 2006 single “Young Folks,” which owes its universal catchiness to the whistled refrain. The 4 1/2 minutes of intermixed whistling was enough to infect the listening of “Gimme Some,” their sixth, punkiest and most-fun record to date.

In “Breaker, Breaker” and “Eyes,” PB&J synthesize the band’s happiest indie pop with a sort of punk feel that’s got more in common with Vampire Weekend (see: “Cousins” from “Contra”) than Rancid or The Sex Pistols.

“Eyes,” with its “I don’t wanna/I just wanna” lyrical construction, suggests a much younger narrator than Peter’s 35 plus years, a voice he maintains for most of the record.

Plenty of common punk themes show up in the lyrics of “Gimme Some.” You’ve got headstrong youth in “(Don’t Let Them) Cool Off,” (“you blast the ball but you never learned no rules”) anger over faked earnestness in “Down Like Me” (“you compromise and steal/telling people how you feel/though it’s not a bit for real”) and bodily breakdown in “Lies” (“my eyes are dim, I can barely see/my legs are limp and my knees are weak”), which is backed by a genuine Ramones guitar riff.

The lighter punk elements mesh well with the band’s natural inclination toward pop. The album’s stuffed with plenty of backing coos and catchy lyrical alliteration that are the band’s bread and butter, culled from influences like Elvis Costello and XTC. On past records, the band tended to inflate these tendencies with more artificial sounds— drum machines, creaky synthesizers and loud choruses of children.

“Gimme Some,” on the other hand, is composed of a bunch of well-structured, guitar-driven songs that should suggest favorable comparisons to Spoon. The album’s closer “I Know You Don’t Love Me” functions this way, a satisfying rocker that closes up shop.

“Gimme Some” is successful as a fun, sometimes messy, mostly un-ambitious rock record.