Pete Yorn
Sunday, March 4
Barrymore Theatre, 7:30 p.m.
Pete Yorn has cast his first three albums as chapters in a progression-of-life songbook.
His 2001 debut was titled musicforthemorningafter, followed in 2003 by Day I Forgot. Then last fall he released Nightcrawler, concluding a three-album 'day-for-life' trilogy. It's a theme Yorn is highlighting on his current 'Morning, Day and Night Tour.'
'This new record is not so much for the night,' says Yorn, 'but for a later period in my life. The perspective I have comes from having lived more and experienced more.'
When you compare Yorn's early work to his latest batch of songs, his perspective seems to have grown darker and more complex. The first single from musicforthemorningafter was the soulful love song 'Life on a Chain.' By contrast, the radio hit from Nightcrawler is the brooding, agitated 'For Us.'
And that's just the beginning. Nightcrawler's production is heavier on texture and layering than Yorn's past work (a metaphor for the loss of simplicity and innocence?). 'Bandstand in the Sky' is the new CD's final track and finds Yorn contemplating death and the hereafter.
It's been a decade since Yorn, who is a native of New Jersey, left the East Coast to make his way on L.A.'s singer-songwriter circuit. His first break came when movie producer Bradley Thomas caught one of Yorn's gigs and was impressed enough to ask him for some demos. Thomas included two Yorn songs in the Jim Carrey film Me, Myself and Irene.
Nightcrawler finds Yorn collaborating with some of his high-profile musical friends. The Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl plays drums on 'For Us,' while the Dixie Chicks are featured on 'The Man.'
As he progresses through his 'Morning, Day and Night Tour,' Yorn seems eager to draw conclusions about how his music and his outlook have changed with time.
'It feels like another evolution in who I am as a person,' he says in a press release for the new album. 'People complain if you change too much or stay too much the same. Although I'm very connected to my roots and I'm very grounded, I'm not trying to be the guy I was artistically in 1996 or 2000, or 2003 even. I take it day by day.'
A Columbia Records labelmate, Aqualung, will open the show. Aqualung is the moniker for British songwriter Matt Hales, best known for last year's popular radio ballad 'Brighter Than Sunshine.'
