Pete Yorn

Back and Fourth (Columbia)

By Caroline Evans
Published: July 9th, 2009 | 12:10am

While he was writing songs for his fourth studio album, Pete Yorn tried a method he had never used before: he wrote the lyrics before he wrote the music. While the lyrics on Back and Fourth are not noticeably more profound or poetic, they do draw attention to Yorn’s greatest talent: reconciling humor and drama within the same song. Midway through “Social Development Dance,” he sings “I tried to find out what happened to you / I Googled you in quotes / Got no results.” Before the listener has time to even smirk, he counters with “Never learned how you had died / But I knew how you had lived.”

The Jersey-bred Yorn traded sunny L.A. boulevards for Middle America, recording Back and Fourth in Omaha with Mike Mogis, who has produced albums for Bright Eyes and Rilo Kiley. Yorn’s Midwestern jaunt brought out his folkier tendencies, and he reconciles pop and folk on tracks such as “Don’t Wanna Cry,” which begins with a gently-strummed guitar and Yorn’s parched tones, and ends with a fleshed-out backup that includes organ, horns, and mandolin.

Back And Fourth is an enjoyable pop outing, but it does have moments that promise more: epic orchestral arrangements on “Four Years," sparkling pop keyboards on “Last Summer,” and the quiet majesty of piano ballad, “Long Time Nothing New.” But with its excessive instrumentation and studied radio-readiness, this is hardly a venture from the big recording studios of Hollywood. Yorn may have found inspiration in the Midwest, but Back And Fourth fails to inspire.

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