Whether it’s a sketchy, unmarked backroad or a luxuriously wide highway, Swedish indiepop veterans Peter Bjorn and John are willing to travel anywhere in pursuit of a hook. And ever since their whistle-laden 2006 hit “Young Folks,” they’ve taken some unexpected routes. A decade later, they pushed in all their mainstream chips for Breakin’ Point , linking up with some of pop’s most famous producers (Emile Haynie, Greg Kurstin, Paul Epworth) and winding up with their most generic songs. But they rebounded with 2018’s Darker Days , which felt like a more authentic expression with its gloomy lyrical themes and experimental touches. The pendulum swings back with the trio’s ninth LP, Endless Dream , which they conceived as a brighter, more optimistic sibling to its heavy predecessor. And that shift prompts a crucial question: What do Peter Bjorn and John fans want? Another “Young Folks” to throw on their morning jog playlist? Or the kind of savvy, occasionally challenging pop this band is still capable of after two decades? Endless Dream will satisfy both camps, if sporadically. The first side is full of safe, solidly catchy choruses: the sugary vocal harmonies and danceable drum groove of “Music,” the airy 12-string jangle of “Endless Reruns.” But PBJ sound more engaged—and less concerned with landing that knockout punch—in the album’s later moments. “Simple Song of Sin” is slow-building giddiness, full of start-stop rhythms and overlapping riffs, and “Weekend” revolves around a sparse groove of palm-muted bass and nagging rim clicks—a lesson in delayed gratification that hits home with the ramped-up chorus.