Category:
Pop / Singer/Songwriter

Try if you like:
Ac Newman, Nick Drake, Peter Bjorn And John, Portastatic

First off, this is the Peter of Peter, Bjorn and John. With that cleared I can now dive into the lovely personal music that Peter Moren has recorded for his debut solo album, The Last Tycoon. The pop sensibilities of the PB&J songs isn't here though. Instead, Moren opts for a much more stripped down, singer/songwriter style and it turns out to be equally pleasant. You can see how Peter's music ends up with all the pop flair that his other band possesses. A track like "This Is What I Came For" could easily make this transition with a fuller production and more robust instrumentation. But on The Last Tycoon, Moren decides to keep it quite minimalistic and it turns out to be quite a treat. Or even on the piano heavy "Twisted", if there was a little more meat to the song it would have the bombast of his full-time project. 

You know you are in for something different when the first track, "Reel To Real" crosses the wire. There is a lot of emotion and personal inflection in this gentle track. The arrangements on The Last Tycoon do allow for you to relish in Peter's wonderful songwriting skills. "Missing Link" starts out with Peter singing without accompaniment. A lot of the songs come off sounding very personal, such as the final track "Gaze at the Sky for Long". This is good for a project such as the Last Tycoon. 

This album shows another side of Peter and most people who enjoy his other pop project will find that these songs are just as distinct.