I was late to the party when it came to Pete Yorn‘s music. I learned about him about five years after the release of his first album, Musicforthemorningafter. As with most of the bands that I discovered in the previous decade, I came across Yorn serendipitously when I bought a used mix CD at Exile. Four lines into “Life on a Chain,” and I was hooked. I bought Musicforthemorningafter based on that song alone, not thinking it would get much better than that, and then I heard “Simonize.” If beauty has a sound, it’s in that song.
Imagine my delight to learn that Yorn had already released a second album, and had a third one on the way. This is the only positive that comes from encountering great musicians late in the game: you don’t have to wait long for the later albums.
In the years since first discovering Pete Yorn, I’ve enjoyed a feast of new sounds with every subsequent album I’ve heard. The man is simply an enormous talent.
Yorn’s latest eponymous album (which I’ll call Self-Titled to avoid confusion) was released on September 28, 2010. It was produced by Frank Black on the Vagrant label, and has received 4/5 stars from Mojo and 8/10 from Spin. Self-Titled is an entirely different direction musically from Yorn’s earlier work. It rocks harder than the pop melodies of his first three albums, for damn sure.
Yorn’s unpolished, gravelly, baritone vocals are as strong and raw as ever. And his craftsmanship is flawless. Frank Black’s influence is apparent, of course, most strongly in the open bars of “Precious Stone.” But the album also has shades of Mellencamp (particularly when the guitars and rhythm section kicks in), Pearl Jam (vocals), and even The Beach Boys (especially in “Sans Fear”), scattered throughout. And “Bad Man” brings late R.E.M. to mind as well.
Many of the songs on Self-Titled are about love, but not in the romantic sense of the word. Rather, they are about the ambivalence that we often feel toward love, relationships, and whether or not we want “normalcy.” This is most apparent in “Sans Fear,” which is probably one of the saddest songs I’ve heard in a long while. Another ― “Stronger Than” ― opens with, “I think I’ve never been loved.” There isn’t a second of cloying romance anywhere in this album. And I say that with much gratitude in my cold, black heart.
It’s this album that is the focus of Yorn’s tour, which began on February 14. He’ll be playing The Canopy Club on Saturday, February 26.
The opening acts are Ben Kweller and The Wellspring. I admit that I’m not familiar with either band, but I’ve checked out Kweller’s Facebook page, and I like what I hear so far.
Tickets: $22 in advance
Doors: 7:00 p.m.
Pete Yorn’s “Rock Crowd,” offered as a free download
All photos by Jim Wright. Used by permission.