Peter Morén (guitar), Bjorn Yttling (keyboards and bass) and John Eriksson (drums), a three-songwriter band from Stockholm, are X-ray technicians of pop. Like Timbaland with a different sense of rhythm and noise, they strip songs down to their barest outlines: a beat, a vocal and as few instruments as they can get away with. They made bloggers love whistling with the irresistible single “Young Folks” in 2006, but apparently that was too perky for them. Where past PBJ albums allowed themselves guitar chords and memories of 1960s Mersey Beat, Living Thing prefers the brittle mixes of electro and the gaping spaces of dub reggae; they’ve moved from cool to frozen. The sound matches lyrics about isolation and despair, achieving a freeze-dried catchiness in the opening songs. But by the end of the album, cleverness gives way to the bleak and the drab.

DOWNLOAD “It Don’t Move Me,” “Living Thing”