SquawkRadio

Okay, so after saying in my last music blog that one of my resolutions this year is to listen to more women artists, my first blog of the new year is on a guy. But he’s a really cool guy, trust me.

Upon poking around Pete Yorn’s web site for tidbits for this blog, I discovered that he’s been compared to Bruce Springsteen more than once. Until I read that, however, such a comparison never occurred to me. He’s a singer/songwriter like Bruce. He plays the guitar, as does Bruce. HIs songs aren’t what you’d call frivolous. He’s from Jersey. But he really has a sound totally his own, and his voice is way more soothing. (Not that I don’t love Bruce, but Yorn’s voice is a pebble on the water compared to Bruce’s deep-cut quarry.)

“Musicforthemorningafter” is Pete Yorn’s debut album, released in 2001. Rolling Stone, not a magazine to often wax poetic, called it “…atmospheric, gently lit by sunlight and regret.” Whoa, way to peg it. USA Today said Yorn’s melodies on this CD were “insinuating,” and his arrangements were “lean” and “driving” and “graceful.” Yep, they’re all that. The music is by turns fast and slow, but always moody and evocative. I don’t want to say mellow. I don’t want to say soothing. That makes it sound trite and it is in no way that. But it makes me feel both soothed and mellow.

What’s weird is that the song lyrics aren’t exactly cheerful and upbeat, but the music still comforts somehow. During my crap week a couple weeks ago, I listened to this CD a lot in the car, and it always made me feel better. Even when Yorn sang things like, “You were lying wide awake in the garden/trying to get over your stardom/and I could never see you depart us/and you’re my baby/you’re just another girl.” Because the way he sings it, it sounds so sweet and affectionate. All the lyrics are like that. As if someone’s leaving, or someone’s lying, or someone’s losing. Yet there’s something in Yorn’s voice as he sings about things gone wrong that makes it seem as if he yearns to set them right again. I love that.

Yorn’s music (and voice) have shown up in a number of movies and TV shows, and that’s where I discovered him myself--in “Shrek 2.” One of my top five favorite songs of all time is the Buzzcocks’ “Ever Fallen in Love,” and normally, I get pretty peeved when people cover songs I think are already perfect. But damned if Yorn didn’t make the song sound great all over again during the scene where Shrek and Donkey and Puss are raiding the Fairy Godmother’s factory. I figured anyone who could do that much justice to that song had to be pretty incredible.

I’ve not been disappointed in him once.