Good morning!
Today we’re taking a look at Pete Yorn’s Musicforthemorningafter.
Note: As many of you saw, I recently wrote about a Best Record of 2001 challenge and noted that I’d be writing some of these up.
The plan is to do quick hits on each first-round matchup and post them directly to the page. Some will be longer, some won’t, and some might just be a handful of sentences. There’ll probably be a few typos. We’ll also have a few guest posts along the way, so make sure to stay tuned for those!
Check ’em out and let me know your thoughts! Chin wags & hot takes welcome! Sharing and restacks always appreciated.
KA—
One of my favorite things about writing this series is finding new records. I get that typing something like that isn’t exactly revelatory. The last bracket was packed with personal favorites and a ton of field trips back in time to whenever I first found them. This time around, I find myself wondering what I was doing that caused me to miss these entirely.
Late March of ’01? Good question. It’d be another week before I got my official transfer notice, so my guess is that I was already looking to move. We filed everything manually in those days, filling out triplicate forms and putting them in interoffice mailers, then putting those into big heavy-duty bags marked “COMAT.” From there, someone would grab it off the plane, drop it somewhere else, where yet another person would pick it up and (hopefully!) get it to where it needed to go. Efficient stuff! Yet somehow, it all worked better than what we have now. But I’ve already gone way too far into the weeds.
My point here is that my (now) wife was actively looking to jump off the corporate hamster wheel, and I was looking to get a promotion. I don’t know what all we were listening to, but I can tell you Musicforthemorningafter was not on the list.
Same, really, as this is a goddamn delight. “Folk rock” isn’t usually my bag, and until about 30 minutes ago, I couldn’t have told you the difference between Pete Yorn and Pete Droge (I thought one had done “some” work on Jim Carrey films. Turns out each had a track featured on separate films. Okay then).
Opener “Life on a Chain” grabbed me right away, and “Strange Condition” made for a killer 1–2 punch. Both are strong cuts on a record full of them. “Black” is my favorite on the album. I’m a sucker for a good outro, and the last 60–90 seconds of the track are right up my alley. Same story with “Sense.”
I was looking west (I’d put in to transfer back to Portland), and this is sui generis West Coast indie. Would not be surprised to hear early copies came with a gift card to Coffee People (IYKYK). Even now, as I’m typing this, I can see places where this would’ve fit nicely as a soundtrack. “Murray” would’ve sounded great coming out of my windows on the way to the Gorge. Probably would’ve sounded pretty good on Murray Boulevard too.
Back then I had no taste for sad sacks or ballads, but even the slower stuff on here, like “Lose You,” hits nicely. And the darker moments don’t last long. In doing some reading, it looks like he had a track featured on Dawson’s Creek, which, I mean—who didn’t?
At 15 tracks, there was a greater-than-zero chance this would’ve had some fluff on it, but if it’s there, I didn’t hear it. My favorites happen to be on the front end, but each track feels like it’s pulling its own weight. No Black Tiger, no decaf; everything’s just the right potency.
Bottom Line: This is up against Shakira’s “Laundry Service,” and both are closely seeded. Hoping Yorn wins the day if for no other reason than it’ll be a good excuse to keep playing this.
Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my takes? Which one of these would you vote for? Sound off in the comments!
Kevin Sent 