He may not be a household name, but pretty much all you need to do to get a bead on Peter Morén these days is to whistle the intro to "Young Folks." Morén, in other words, is the Peter part of Peter Bjorn and John, the Swedish invaders responsible for one of last year's most slyly infectious and catwalk-friendly pop singles. Hot on the heels of that success, Morén recently released his debut solo album, "The Last Tycoon," and this week he concludes the American leg of his tour in support of the LP with two shows in Los Angeles. "The music is more low-key than Peter Bjorn and John," Morén says of the surprisingly folksy "The Last Tycoon." "Writing with the band, we tend to put all our ideas and inspirations together, and then the songs come out somewhere in the middle of our tastes. The point of making a solo record is to liberate my own taste, whatever I'm feeling, and give it full expression. Maybe my next solo record will be punk." In the meantime, fans of Morén's melodious, literate, and distinctly un-punk tunemaking can catch him tonight at The Hotel Café or tomorrow at the Troubador; after that, it's back to the band life for Morén: Peter Bjorn and John are hard at work on an instrumental album, which should be making its way onto the runways sometime next year.

—Maya Singer