Pete Yorn - Musicforthemorningafter

After having contributed to the soundtracks of American teen soap opera Dawson’s Creek and the Jim Carrey movie Me, Myself, & Irene, Pete Yorn has released his debut album, musicforthemorningafter.

Being a native of New Jersey with a regular guy look and penchant for straight up rock, the inevitable comparisons to a young Springsteen have already been made. Fortunately, though, Yorn’s musical map doesn’t end at the Jersey shore. He also knows Big Star, Neil Young, the Replacements, and R.E.M., and is into alt.country and Brit pop—especially the Smiths.

Drummer by trade, Yorn tired of a supporting role in small bands, fashioning himself into a singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist savant who plays most of the instruments on his debut album.

The core sound of Musicforthemorningafter combines vocal influences Jeff Buckley, Paul Westerberg, Alex Chilton, and Bob Dylan with a guitar sound co-inspired by the Smiths’ Johnny Mars and Peter Buck of R.E.M. This core is backed by a solid rhythm section, and supplemented with electronic beats and a variety of keyboard textures.

Yorn co-produced the album with Brad Wood, whose credits include Liz Phair’s debut album Exile in Guyville. Musciforthemorningafter shares with that disc a warmly ambient, lo-fi sound that supports Yorn’s style nicely.

Musicforthemorningafter is a very strong debut, and also is one of the best CDs yet to emerge in 2001. If the album has a flaw, it’s that the songs are perhaps not varied enough. They blend in your memory somewhat as a series of excellent but indistinct songs. This is a small complaint, though, given the album’s merits, and is to be expected from a first record.

Given his recent tour schedule, which includes dates playing with Bob Dylan, Sting, Blues Traveler, Semisonic, and Coldplay, Pete Yorn should have some great additional source materials to draw from for his next album.

--Matt Parks