Pete Yorn's Frank Black-Produced Album Out Now, Tour Dates, + Hear 2 Songs

By Jim Wright

Last year was a productive year for Pete Yorn with the release of two albums: Back & Fourth and Break Up, his collaboration with Scarlett Johansson. Around the time the projects were released, there was word that he had also recorded a rougher and more straightforward rock album with the Pixies' Frank Black. This album, simply self-titled, was finally released on Tuesday through Vagrant. It sees Yorn getting back to his rock roots as his previous three releases were more folk/pop-inspired. Below, you can check out "Precious Stone" and "Velcro Shoes" from the album.

MP3: Pete Yorn - "Precious Stone"
MP3: Pete Yorn - "Velcro Shoes"

As I confessed in a previous post, I didn't really keep up with Yorn after he released his stellar debut, musicforthemorningafter. I picked up Nightcrawler and heard a few songs from his other releases, but didn't go much deeper than that. As far as I can tell, these Frank Black-produced tunes see Yorn letting loose a bit more, settling into the music a lot more naturally -- meaning he's going for it. It sounds as though, this time around, he ran with what he had and didn't over analyze anything, making it all sound a lot more natural. I think Black helped Yorn find that level of ease. On producing the album, Black said, "We headed down a path of realization. I stripped Pete down a whole bunch. We battled in the best sort of way. I tried to get the session into a fearless and raw place, and to his artistic credit Pete took his songwriting to a fearless and raw place."

More after the jump.

Pete Yorn's Frank Black-Produced LP Gets a Release Date

 (Photo source unknown)

I haven't kept up much with Pete Yorn's music in the past few years. I was fully behind and into his debut, musicforthemorningafter (so many great songs...I even performed "Strange Condition" at a school concert), but didn't really stay with him past that. I returned to the Yorn fold when he released Nightcrawler which, honestly, only really happened because he did an in-store at a record store just down the street before it was released. I believe the last words I said to him were about where to find the best burrito in the area (What? He asked where he could get one).

Anyways, Yorn has been pretty active as of late, especially last year with Back and Forth and the Scarlett Johansson collaboration Break Up. When news was coming out about these two releases, there was talk of a Frank Black (or Black Francis...depends on what year this is?) produced album that was a pretty straightforward rock album. I thought, of the three albums he's releasing, this is the one I want to hear the most. And now, information about its release.