Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 06/23/2009
Pete Yorn throws open the studio doors with
Back & Fourth, his first album to feature heavy contributions from a backing band. Drummer
Joey Waronker, guitarist
Jonny Polonsky, and former
Azure Ray vocalist
Orenda Fink are among those featured, and the presence of producer
Mike Mogis -- chief architect of the
Saddle Creek sound -- gives the material a tasteful gloss. Traces of Californian folk-rock can be found throughout these ten tracks, particularly in the jangle of
"Last Summer" and the breezy, coastal sway of
"Paradise Cove." Nonetheless,
Yorn's fourth album is a fairly depressed affair, eschewing the West Coast's sunny weather for the lonely, windswept vistas of Nebraska, where the album was recorded in early 2008. There's beauty here, yet it's more melancholic than buoyant, with
Yorn giving the most screen time to his failed relationships and various missteps. "Same old town, loose ends surround me, always drags you down," he sings on the album's final track, an elegiac piano ballad brimming with vibraphone, upright bass, and understated guitar. Songwriters don't have to be happy to deliver a good hook, of course, and tunes like
"Close," "Last Summer," and
"Shotgun" balance
Yorn's temporary gloom with tight pop/rock songcraft. The bulk of
Back & Fourth is more insular, though, serving as
Pete Yorn's personal therapy rather than his audience's ear candy.
~Andrew Leahey, All Music Guide
;)
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