Pete Yorn

From bracing opener "Precious Stone" to the chugging fan appreciation "Rock Crowd" to a heartfelt version of Gram Parsons' "Wheels," Yorn emerges with his most purposeful, affecting album yet.

Don't let the record's unrefined demeanor fool you - Yorn isn't tucked away in a corner feeling sorry for himself like on his previous work.

To the Yorn faithful this set will probably seem like a step in the right direction.

Here, we've got an album that kind of sums up Yorn's journey; this scruffy batch of songs is as exciting as anything Yorn's done in the last decade.

Yorn continues to embrace a simplistic sensibility, allowing his voice and some rollicking rock riffs to carry most of the tracks on Pete Yorn. [Oct 2010, p.120]

This album's often a bracing, propulsive listen, the hardest rock Yorn has ever recorded, even if it does suggest Yorn is like tofu, adapting the characteristics of whatever spices he's paired with.

Well-connected New Jerseyite's fifth solo album. [March 2011, p. 117]

The performances outshine the material. [Dec 2010, p.119]

The self-titled album he bashed out with Pixies frontman Frank Black before the recording sessions for Back And Fourth is seeing the light of day, and in spite of Black's assertion that he was attempting to strip Yorn and his songs down to their core essences, the results feel anonymous, cycling through half a dozen different voices while displaying only fleeting glimpses of the effortless pop chops that made Yorn so inescapable a decade ago.