Pete Yorn has been surprisingly prolific of late. Consider that it was three years between his sophomore outing, 2003’s Day I Forgot, and 2006’s bracingly eclectic Nightcrawler, the latter largely restoring the potential of his brazenly accomplished out-of-nowhere debut, 2001’s Musicforthemorningafter. Another three years between releases, and Montville, N.J.’s favorite boho chick magnet suddenly had a lot more to say. Last year saw the release of Back & Fourth, followed by Break Up, a wispy collaboration with Scarlett Johansson inspired by Serge Gainsbourg’s duets with Brigitte Bardot. Now Yorn has ditched his smokin’-hot muse for Frank Black, who encouraged the confessed perfectionist and overdub junky to strip away the studio varnish and rawk out for the new Pete Yorn (Vagrant). Yorn will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our Q&A with him.
Yorn: If you didn’t already know, Frank Black produced my new album up in Salem, Ore. I’ve always loved his work: in the Pixies, with the Catholics and as a solo artist and producer. Fifteen years ago, he produced my buddy Jonny Polonsky‘s Hi My Name Is Jonny. Working with him on my record was a total dream come true, as he’s been such a consistently interesting artist for all these years. One of my favorite Frank Black songs is “I Heard Ramona Sing,” from his first solo album. It’s a song about the Ramones, so I’m automatically on board. It’s nice that it’s a Ramones tribute but sounds nothing like the Ramones. It’s just classic Frank Black.
Video after the jump.
