Peter Bjorn and John's Peter Moren Goes It Alone

Peter Bjorn and John had folks whistling along to their acscension from obscurity with their infectious single 'Young Folks,' off their 2006 album, 'Writer's Block.' But singer/guitarist Peter Morén is whistling another tune -- a solo one.

"Because of the success with [PB&J], I had the time to do this album," Morén tells Spinner of his solo album, 'The Last Tycoon,' due April 8. "Before, I used to study and work full-time. When you're able to live off of music, you have a lot of free time."

While he's certainly enjoying more time, Morén's been working on 'The Last Tycoon' since he and his fellow Swedish rockers began writing 'Writers' Block.' It was at that time that Morén realized one of the songs he had written for the record didn't quite fit. "I started thinking of more songs to go with it and started to do some recording at a friend's apartment," he says. "I had a clear idea that I wanted to do something different. This time I wanted to keep it acoustic -- the way I write the songs to begin with. It was all recorded live with guitar and vocal, and we put on some touches afterwards. We wanted to keep it very low-key and homey.

"One of the reasons I wanted to do it is because I've been playing with Bjorn since I was 15 years old," Morén continues. "I'm 31 now. It's about time I'm doing something completely by myself, without other people interfering. The scary part is the same as the good part. It's all up to you. You can't blame anyone."

Morén is heading out on tour this month, but never fear -- the end of PB&J is definitely not nigh. "We still have a band. It's very much alive," he says. "We've already started to record [a new record]. We're having a break now and continuing in May. It's going really good. It's planned to be finished around September, but maybe the release will be next year."