Swedish indie rock trio Peter Bjorn and John take a fairly straightforward approach to presentation.
The merch booth at the Paradise Tuesday night offered T-shirts that said "Peter Bjorn and John T-Shirt" or bags stamped with "Peter Bjorn and John Bag." Even the group's stage backdrop read, you guessed it, "Peter Bjorn and John Backdrop."
It's a simple yet wily device, and it carried over into the band's music as well.
Repeatedly throughout the 70-minute performance, the effervescent Swedes - Peter Moren, Bjorn Yttling, and John Eriksson - constructed full-bodied songs from basic building blocks: a catchy vocal percussion line, a single rickety guitar riff, a spare symphony of synth squiggles.
One minute they were channeling zippy skiffle rock ("It Beats Me Every Time"), the next, "Graceland"-era Paul Simon ("Living Thing"), and then Depeche Mode-like angst ("It Don't Move Me"). They even dipped into the retro-soul pool with "Stay This Way," a sexy, sleepy slow jam the band called its "little make-out song." The trio's excitable nature, offbeat harmonies, and unpredictable grooves made for a fun show that combined shaggy garage-band charm and Euro-dance pop cool.
The guys seemed to be enjoying themselves, bantering with the audience and making cheeky pronouncements, like calling their newest album, "Living Things," "probably the best album ever in the history of music."
It probably isn't, but the new tunes held up well next to their counterparts from the band's breakthrough third album, "Writer's Block," including the still irresistible/maddening whistle-fest "Young Folks."
Chairlift displayed similarly diverse charms in one of the best opening sets of recent memory. The juxtaposition of surprisingly beefy drum patterns - both synthesized and live - and the whispery vocal approach of keyboardist Caroline Polachek and guitarist Aaron Pfenning brought to mind New Order. The band's single/iPod jingle "Bruises" - the one featuring the insistent lyric "I tried to do handstands for you" - was simply a preview for a clutch of memorable tunes.
Sarah Rodman can be reached at srodman@globe.com. 
