As a new artist on Columbia Records, a label that's as major as a major label can be, it might have been logical for Pete Yorn to make a highly produced debut album that catered to the trends of radio.
Instead Yorn ignored those thoughts and made an intimate, lo-fi CD, one so homespun it was actually recorded in a garage.
"I remember thinking this very clearly -- I just said, 'Well. I got this shot. Columbia Records, I'm making a record, and I'm a singer-songwriter and that's not really too fashionable right now," Yorn says. "I could make a record that you think should sound like a record for Columbia or whatever -- like it's some big label and the way things sound on the radio or something like that. Or I could just make a record I'm going to be proud of (in) two years, three years or five years, when, say, nothing happened with the record -- it just kind of came out and got lost and nothing happened at all. So at the end of the day what happens? Well, you hope you have something that at least you're proud of and you (feel) is honest."
As it turns out, Yorn is getting it both ways. His debut CD, musicforthemorningafter, not only reflects the vision Yorn had for his songs, it has become a decent success. The single, "Life on a Chain," has made a strong impact on Adult Alternative and Modern Rock radio, while the CD itself has earned glowing reviews and prompted high-profile publications, such as Rolling Stone and Spin, to anoint Yorn with next-big-thing status.
It's easy to see why musicforthemorningafter has been touted as one of the year's most satisfying debut efforts. With lo-fi production that will remind Pop-minded fans of Elliot Smith's recent records, Yorn delivers his songs with an intimacy and emotional current that might have been obscured in a glossier setting. And the songs are strong enough not to need any studio sweetening or trickery. "Life on a Chain," for instance, combines a charming folky melody with a strong beat that gives the song a pleasant edge and urgency. "Strange Condition" mixes similar ingredients, but rocks a bit harder behind some insistent electric guitar and Yorn's grainy vocal.
The poppier side in Yorn's songwriting emerges strongly on songs like "Murray" and "For Nancy ('Cos It Already Is)." The former tune (named in honor of the Beach Boys' father, Murry Wilson) is a frisky tune that seduces with its shimmering guitar and buoyant, melancholy vocal melody, while the latter tune takes flight behind a romping hook that surrounds the " 'Cos It Already Is" refrain. The song "Black," meanwhile, gives Yorn a chance to tip his hat to one of his favorite bands, Joy Division, with its sweetly bummed-out guitar and potent Pop hook.
For Yorn, a 26-year-old New Jersey native, music has been a strong interest throughout much of his life. He began learning drums at age 9 and added guitar to his repertoire at age 12. His two older brothers, who had bands in high school, meanwhile had a direct impact on Yorn's musical leanings.
"They were much older than me, but I was like 8 or 9, and I would sit in the basement while they would play, just watching them and their crappy bands play," Yorn recalls. "My mom was very tolerant. She'd always let the bands practice at our house. I think that really got me into music early because I was watching them going 'I can do that.' "
Still, Yorn didn't begin seriously thinking about a music career until he was nearing graduation from Syracuse University.
"I grew up in a very traditional household," Yorn says. "I don't know, the music thing always came so naturally that I didn't think I could get away with having a career. I mean, I guess it's a lot of people's dream, but I didn't think it was something I could actually make happen, so I was just focusing on other things. But at the same time, I was always writing songs because it was something I liked to do. Like some people like to knit. I liked to write songs.
"At some point toward the end (of college), I was, like, 'Well, check it out -- you've got one life. And you've got your whole life to do something else,' " he continues. "I figured I was young and just wanted to take a shot and put a few years into this music thing full-on just to see. I didn't want to be past my prime, looking back and saying what if (I got stuck) in a job that I didn't love. So I was, like, someone's got to do it. Why the hell not me? Let's go for it. So I did. I made the plunge."
Yorn moved to Los Angeles, where he continued sharpening his songwriting craft and began playing local clubs. But attracting the interest of record labels proved harder than Yorn had imagined, and he admitted that there were times when he considered giving up his musical ambitions.
But with continuing encouragement from his older brothers, friends and other family members, Yorn stayed the course and after three years on the club scene, he finally ended up winning his deal with Columbia after a face-to-face acoustic audition for the label.
To make musicforthemorningafter, Yorn set up shop in the Culver City, California garage owned by R. Walt Vincent, who played bass on the CD and co-produced many of the tracks. (Don Gilmore and Brad Wood also shared in the production.)
Rather than hiring a band, Yorn recorded most of the instruments himself, a move that streamlined the creative and recording process.
"The studio I had was just set up for recording at any time," Yorn says. "So I could just lay down a drum beat real quick and then just run over to the piano and lay down that part and lay down (something else). I was kind of just a rogue in the studio, running from little area to little area. And that's part of my flow I like to get into. I like to get things down that way. I find that other people playing on it, unless they're like my musical soulmates, like Walt Vincent or Brad Wood, who was also great. I find that it just kind of dilutes my initial vision."
The vision Yorn had for musicforthemorningafter was to make a CD that bridged his two primary musical influences -- the British Pop of groups like The Smiths, the Cure and New Order and the rootsy Rock of Bruce Springsteen, Gram Parsons and Uncle Tupelo. He succeeded by emphasizing his Pop influences in his melodies and keeping the rough edges on the instruments to yield performances that have the warm, organic feel of American Roots music.
"When I was going into make this record, I had a lot of songs I had written on acoustic guitar, and I could play any song on this record on acoustic guitar and trick someone into thinking it was a Country song," Yorn says.
"I didn't want to make that kind of record. I didn't want to make like a straight up AltCountry record. I didn't think that's what the world needed from me. And I didn't think what would show all sides of what I was into. So I don't know, I tried to bridge a few worlds from a production standpoint, but without making it seemed forced. I wanted it to seem natural. So that's what I tried to do."
