On August 29, Pete Yorn released Nightcrawler, his much-anticipated follow up to 2001's debut album, musicforthemorningafter and his less-successful sophomore release, Day I Forgot. Since musicforthemorningafter, this New Jersey-born, self-taught, multi-talented musician has gained a small but devoted following. Fans are drawn in by his deep, gravelly, emotionally charged voice. Yorn has a fresh take on the alternative rock sound, and his enigmatic lyrics appeal to aspects of listeners' everyday lives.
His fist single on musicforthemorningafter, "Life on a Chain," made it to the upper ranks of the alternative charts, while several of his songs can be heard on movie soundtracks. "Strange Condition," the second song off his debut, ran the soundtrack gamut, appearing in such movies as 40 Days and 40 Nights, Me, Myself & Irene, The Sweetest Thing and Bandits. All of this created quite a bit of excitement for his second release, Day I Forgot, in which he departed slightly from his adult alternative sound. Yorn's talent is more easily recognized by fans of this genre, but it can still be enjoyed by those with more mainstream tastes.
Yorn has the potential to appear on billboards, but he seems to value an indie mentality over the commercialism involved with pop-oriented albums. For example, he has covered songs by artists like The Buzzcocks, The Ramones and The Smiths, despite their very different styles.
Nightcrawler does double duty when compared to its predecessors -- maybe even triple duty when soundtracks are taken into account. Classic Yorn, with his instantly recognizable crooning voice and lyrics full of layered meanings, can be heard on songs like "Alive," "Maybe I'm Right" and "How Do You Go On?" "Georgie Boy" is experimental and different than what Yorn usually does, with an electronica beat and up-tempo dance feel.
He has his ballad in "The Man," where it's nice to hear female backing vocals as a change from Yorn backing himself.
"Broken Bottle" is the ironic, happy-tune-with-sad-lyrics that is synonymous with the name Pete Yorn.
On Nightcrawler, Yorn has added three previously released tracks. "Undercover" was released on the Spiderman soundtrack, "Splendid Isolation" was on a compilation of Warren Zevon covers and, although in a different version, "Bandstand in the Sky" was on his Live from New Jersey album.
It seems this re-releasing of material has two effects. Either you feel gypped --maybe even ripped off -- or just plain sorry for Yorn. Was he simply too lazy to clean up some of his old, unreleased songs? Has he lost such hope for immense success that he's given up recording (or at least releasing new and original stuff)?
Sadly, while there are several tracks that are absolutely worth it, Yorn's new album just doesn't do him justice. Don't give up, Pete. Your fans are still here.
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