Pete Yorn to explore night at The Blue Note
Published Nov. 10, 2006
As the sun sets over the horizon every night, we fall into the shade of a more mysterious world shrouded in discovery and self-reflection. Day becomes night — the distinction is as clear as the evolution from Pete Yorn's first album to his most recent. That transition both through the day and his work inspires a moment for reflection and introspection.
Through that moment of inspiration, Yorn has eloquently explored themes within his own life during the past five years in his past three albums, Musicforthemorningafter, Day I Forgot and, most recently, Nightcrawler.
"I realized as I was somewhere between the second and third record that I was kind of revisiting these themes that seem to be compelling to me and my life," Yorn said. "I guess I realized that the main thing was that I was kind of writing about similar stuff but through a different lens having experienced more."
Yorn has been consumed with the creative process of music, and his identity has evolved along with the theme of each album.
"It was just me trying to figure out something about my songwriting," Yorn said. "The whole process is very mysterious to me — it still is, always has been, and it's just kind of the way I see it."
Nightcrawler — without trying to be facetious — is much darker than Pete's often juvenile and bouncy previous releases. In doing so, it complements the maturity and hopefulness of Yorn's musicianship.
"They go well together," Yorn said. "You know people use the word trilogy — it's not like a continuing story like Star Wars or some saga. They do go together and also live. They work really well together. The songs seem to fit seamlessly with each other."
Breaking out with critical acclaim in 2001 with Musicforthemorningafter, Yorn refuses to be caught in the business and hype that has trapped many promising young artists. Instead, he has reverted the attention to writing and making music.
"I just wanted to make music that made me feel good and get out there and play with my friends," Yorn said. "Continue to stay inspired and stay true to who I am and make music that gives me that feeling, that's the reason why I got into music in the first place — not in the business sense, but as a kid, the reason why I was drawn toward music was because it gave me a certain kind of feeling, and I like to put that in my music today."
Nightcrawler is the culmination of taking a leap out of one's skin and trying to achieve something new with the words, the sounds and the intangible that hangs it all together. In the process, Yorn has created something deeply meaningful not only for himself but also his fans.
"It's trying things you're not comfortable with to an extent and seeing where you can take it and see if anything blossoms from that," Yorn said. "I think that is what creating music should be about."