Pete Yorn - Nightcrawler
Years ago, I saw Pete Yorn open for Semisonic (yes, I know), and had one of those incredibly rare, "Wow, this guy's got something" moments as he played songs from Musicforthemorningafter and a cover of a Bruce Springsteen song. His act was one of the first opening bands I ever actually enjoyed.
Since then, he put out Day I Forgot, and now Nightcrawler. There is a place in my heart especially for Musicforthemorningafter that Day I Forgot didn't even come close to getting into (I don't know why, but it just never caught me the same way Music did), so I figured I probably wouldn't like Nightcrawler as much either.
Wrong. Yay!
I guess the best way to explain it is that as soon as it feels like the weather is changing from winter to spring, I pull out Musicforthemorning after and listen to it as the days get longer. It's mellow and bittersweet and it has always been my chill-out-and-write-in-my-journal album since I heard it.
Nightcrawler is just as good. There are some great songs on this album, especially For Us. This is Yorn's same old mellowed-out pop-rock with a little edge, but he's still an excellent songwriter, and there's something about his voice that's so... well, I would say "emotive" but that's awfully close to sounding like "emo," so, um...
The only thing I don't like about it is that he collaborates with Natalie Maines on one song - a) I can't stand her voice, and b) I can't stand her face. Incidentally, I can't stand the Dixie Chicks' martyrdom either, so The Man is one song I have to skip.
But I do really like this album. I love how his songs seem to tell stories, which is one reason Musicforthemorningafter makes such great music to write to. This one will go on repeat for awhile.
(Also, he's hot.)
