By Tessa Solomon

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After a five-year hiatus, Swedish experimental indie-pop trio Peter Bjorn and John is back on the tour circuit to promote a new album, Breakin’ Point. The group will stop in Iowa City for the Midwestern leg of the tour and performing at 8 p.m. today at the Englert, 221 E. Washington St.

The childhood friends — Peter Moren, Björn Yttling, and John Eriksson — began to receive international attention a decade ago with the single “Young Folks.” Its infectious whistling and breezy vocals served as the breakout hit on the trio’s seminal album Writer’s Block.

The album was the group’s third, but its songs — from the ringing guitars of “Objects of My Affection” to the creeping beat of “Amsterdam” — intrigued reviewers and captivated audiences, rebranding the band and granting it an entirely new degree of acclaim.         

The critical praise of the album was hard to top. After the 2008 release of Seaside Rock, a largely instrumental, digital-only album, came the studio LP Living Thing. On the album, the lo-fi, often dreamy musings of Writer’s Block were replaced with darker, deeper, tones and splatterings of electro-funk chords more reminiscent of their Scandinavian contemporaries.

Critics were not favorable toward Living Thing’s direction, which was a possible response to its entry into the mainstream. Its follow-up, Gimme Some, was a radical shift in attitude, offering sunnier tracks and a consciously pleasant tone. The album was more accessible but again failed to spark the same excitement that their previous releases had.

In the years following, the band members devoted time to their solo and side projects but remained in touch, eventually going on to form their own record label. While around the band, their Scandinavian contemporaries — artists such as Avicii and Lykke Li — were pushed into the international music scene, following a path paved in part by the Swedish trio.

Its 2016 release, Breakin’ Point, attempts to reclaim the group’s place in that mainstream. It’s an album with an urgent sound. While still retaining a fair amount of the synth pop and catchy riffs that made the band famous, the album clearly strives to showcase its meticulous attention to the craft.

MUSIC

What: Peter Bjorn & John

When: 8 p.m.

Where: Englert, 221 E. Washington

Cost: $20-23