(Photo courtesy of Vagrant Records)
By Roya Ghorbani-Elizeh, Living Editor -- ghorbani11@up.edu
Singer-songwriter Pete Yorn, known for his rock/indie vibe, just released his new self-titled fifth studio album on Wed. Yorn, who is best known for critically acclaimed 2001 record "musicforthemorningafter," has released three albums in a little over a year, including his duets album "Break Up" with Scarlett Johansson. The Beacon interviewed Yorn about the new album and about his experiences as a musician.
Q: How does your new self-titled album differ from your previous four records?
A: It rocks way harder. It's a consistently louder rock record. It's much more rough around the edges than the others. Some of my early songs had some rock sounds, like "Closet" and "For Nancy," but I have always had that sound in me. The album is in a more streamlined fashion, it's just more basic.
Q: What's the story behind your new single "Precious Stone?"
A: It's a song about human emotion and the tendency to want something or maybe you have something, you know might not last, but you know it feels good for the moment. It's a fleeting aspect of life in general. Nothing lasts forever, you are put on this planet and the deal we make when we are born is that we don't have everything forever.
Q: You recorded your new album in Salem, Oregon with producer Frank Black. How was your time in Oregon?
A: I flew into Portland and he picked me up at the airport like a true gentleman. I stayed at a hotel in Salem and basically went from the hotel to the studio every day. I walked the main street in Salem every morning. It was nice to be up there, it's pretty in the Pacific Northwest.
Q: How was it working with Frank Black of The Pixies?
A: It was a positive experience for sure. He's a really smart guy with really great ideas. I was nervous because I have never met him before and I really respect him and his work. I had to elevate my game and get my shit together. To have him in the control room and having me sing was really cool. He is very decisive in the studio and he was able to chop out the arrangements and make it barebones and slim. Like, there are a lot of breaks in "Velcro Shoes," which he created by having us use fewer instruments.
Q: You released a duets album "Break Up" with Scarlett Johansson in 2009. What inspired that collaboration?
A: That was something we recorded in 2006 when I had some downtime after touring from "Nightcrawler." I came home and everything came to a grinding halt, and I had anxiety about not being busy.
I was trying to take a nap and I closed my eyes and then woke up and I wanted to make a duets album. In a quick flash it went from that to what Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot. And who would be Brigitte? Scarlett would.
I texted her "yo, I have this idea for a record." And she liked it. It was a crazy idea and it could go either way, I just went with it. I developed all the songs beforehand and we only had her for two days. It was a big experiment when we got her in the studio, the album cover is us learning to sing the songs together. After she started singing we realized our voices worked together.
Q: Your first album "musicforthemorningafter" was released in 2001. How have you grown as an artist in the last nine years?
A: Its going to be 10 years in March and it blows my mind. There are parts of me that are the same, and parts that are different; I write lyrics now that would never have occurred to me to write before. My life experience is building up and I always wrote what I see. My perspective on that has evolved over the years. I still write about love and confusion and benevolence.
Q: In retrospect, which of your albums is your favorite?
A:The new one is my favorite. I love them all in different ways. it's the whole cliché about picking your favorite child. The first one is all new, like the first date, that's the special thing in its own. I love the "Break Up" record because it was fun to do something different. "Back and Fourth" was an interesting experience in Omaha. They are all individual experiences that take me to where I am now. Without them I wouldn't be who I am today.
Q: What advice would you give to aspiring singer-songwriters?
A: Take advice from people you respect. You definitely have to believe in yourself. Make stuff because you love it and if it doesn't work, then fix it. Do what your passion is and don't believe the stuff that people say about you. Reading reviews, you are going to fall into a trap. You have to have a thick skin and you have to follow your muse and do stuff that you're really into.
Q: After four records, why did you decide for this to be your self-titled album?
A: It just needed a name. For me, it's been always been known as the black project and I gave it to a bunch of my friends who called it that. We knew it by that, but I didn't want to call it that, so we just put a black cover on it. It's definitely a stripped-down record. In a weird way it goes back to my favorite bands in the early 90s like Dinosaur Jr. and The Pixies. Maybe it's a throwback record for me, it worked by just calling it by my name.
