Pete Yorn Goes Back And Fourth

03/10/09 4:43pm

by Jen White (CHARTattack)

Pete Yorn will release his fourth album, the aptly titled Back And Fourth, on June 23 via Columbia Records.

The singer/songwriter spent two months last year recording the follow-up to 2006's Nightcrawler in Omaha, Neb. with producers Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley) and Rick Rubin (Weezer, Metallica).

Yorn worked with a backing band — who included drummer Joey Waronker (Beck), guitarist Jonny Polonsky, pianist/arranger Nate Wolcott (Bright Eyes, The Faint), bassist Joe Karnes (John Cale) and backing vocalist Orenda Fink (Azure Ray) — for the first time.

"As much as it was what I wanted to do, it was definitely hard on me," Yorn told Billboard.com. "I'm so used to doing it all myself; it's definitely a challenge for me to let go and let people bring their stuff to the table.

"But these were all musicians I definitely have a lot of respect for, and they played some things I don't think I would have thought of myself, so that was good."

You can download Back And Fourth's opening track and first single "Don't Wanna Cry" for free here.

Back And Fourth's songs came from "the darkest depths of the dark nights of the soul" that the 34-year-old rocker encountered while touring behind Nightcrawler.

"I just think I had been living my teenage rocked-out fantasy for a long time and I had some growing up to do... which led up to the fertile ground for writing this type of music for me," he said to Billboard.com.

Yorn was back in the studio in January to add backing vocals to his friend Matthew Good's upcoming full-length, the tentatively titled Vancouver.

"We'll get up to our usual antics," Good wrote in a Jan. 29 blog post.

Yorn also recently covered Bruce Springsteen's "Your Own Worst Enemy." Check out the video:

While Yorn plans to tour in support of Back And Fourth, only one date at Boston's Cutler Majestic Theatre on March 15 has been announced. He'll perform as part of the WERS 60th anniversary celebration with JJ Grey & Mofro, Will Dailey and Ryan Montbleau. If you're not in town for that one, you can also tune in online here.

Here are the tracks on Back And Fourth:

"Don't Wanna Cry"
"Paradise Cove"
"Close"
"Social Development"
"Shotgun"
"Last Summer"
"Thinking Of You"
"Country"
"Four Years"
"Long Time"