Day I Forgot

Icicle In the Middle
by: nick evans

America has witnessed a sort of explosion of singer songwriters within the past couple years. John Mayer is going on triple platinum and Jack Johnson went to number three on the charts - and its only the beginning, with more and more record companies jumping on the bandwagon every day. In the middle of this explosion is Pete Yorn. His debut album, Musicforthemorningafter, was an earnest and heartfelt collection of songs about his relationships and life in general. It got off to a slow start, but eventually listeners started to pick up on it a bit even without a hit single. Many identified with his lyrics, and due to extensive touring built a pretty good fanbase. So what can be so bad about this album?

For starters, the album feels exactly like the first album. Now that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as it has worked for other artists (e.g. Jack Johnon, even Eminem ) But the fact is that this album sounds more like a collection of B-sides from the debut. . That breath of fresh air that the first album brought to the table has now become stale. And his groggy voice seemed so right for the overall atmosphere on the first album, and even helped the overall appeal. On this one, it just feels a bit lacking, and at times seems to kill the song. The highlights on this album are few and far between, and when they are over, you still find yourself wanting a little more. The first single, “Come Back Home”, and the following track “Crystal Village” are both very standard, but very catchy as well.

Or maybe he’s just lost his ability to write a good song. There’s a song on the album about a Burrito. Come on, Pete! ("Do you wanna take a walk outside? If you want a burrito, you can have another bite of mine/ it could last you forever") Well, it looks like to a lesser extent Yorn has pulled a Liz Phair. Instead of using his full potential, he tries to break into the mainstream. Don’t get me wrong, its not a terrible CD, and its definitely not the worst of the year. But hey, at least it’s a step up from Avril Lavigne. 09-Jul-2003 9:20 AM