The first thing I noticed was the number of people on stage – seven. When you listen to the studio recordings it doesn’t sound like that many people are involved. But seeing them live, what originally comes across as a simple sound is actually several instruments expertly weaved together for a rich, subtly complex arrangement.

Included in that cast was a tambourine player – the best damn tambourine player I’ve ever seen and easily the highlight of my Pete Yorn experience. This guy jammed. He has the rhythm, the moves and I even spotted him headbanging from time to time. Seriously. He also did the thow-the-tambourine-in-the-air trick, but missed the catch (because he skipped dinner and had a pre-show drink, according to his Twitter update after the show.) Still, I have a new-found respect for the tambourine and so did the rest of the crowd — he earned the loudest praise of everyone (except for Yorn, of course) when introduced. You can see him in the video for “Social Development Dance” below, behind Yorn in the white t-shirt and vest. His name is Max Goldblatt, and he’s awesome.

“Social Development Dance” has another gem – one of the silliest lyrics I’ve ever heard. Watch the video, it’s annotated.

As mentioned previously, Yorn can be a bit of a snoozer, and there were times when I found myself drifting off. That’s personal taste of course, but there’s no doubt that even the slow songs are put together with careful attention to detail. He can rock out too. One of those times was captured in the below video of “For Us.”

Yorn definitely has a niche carved out for himself, evidenced by the slew of single and married ladies singing every song and secretly swooning over him while sitting next to their boyfriends and husbands. But hey, that’s cool.

Fellas, for a romantic evening take your lady. And while she’s getting all misty-eyed, you can jam to rock’s gift to the tambourine.

Videos and tour dates below.

You might also like Alexi Murdoch.

“For Us”

Click here to view the embedded video.

“Social Development Dance”

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Mr. Sensitive himself, Pete Yorn

Pete Yorn just released Back & Fourth – the fourth of his studio albums (get it?), and the first since 2006′s Nightcrawler. You might think that a good three years would produce something significant. But so far, that doesn’t appear to be the case. In fact, it seems like the longer Pete Yorn makes music, the worse off he is. After his breakthrough album musicforthemorningafter, he enjoyed the wave of success but record sales have dwindled ever since and reviews have become progressively worse. I’d be surprised if the downward spiral didn’t continue – despite Yorn’s aggressive summer tour schedule.

UPDATE: We took in Yorn’s Chicago tour. Read the Pete Yorn concert review, complete with live video!

It’s not that Yorn isn’t talented, he’s shown promise in the past and his music is technically sound. It’s just that – using his own song title from the new album – “Long Time Nothing New.” Perhaps we’re a little biased toward rock music around here, but this record feels like over-chewed bubblegum pop. And maybe that would be easier to swallow if it didn’t sound just like everything else he’s put out and worse – something you can hear from hundreds of other so-called crooners. The songs are melodic and tight, and many will appreciate that it’s very easy to listen to. Back & Fourth does sound like it was put together with great care, and maybe it’s one of those albums that gets better the more you hear it. But after a few sessions listening cover to cover, I’m bored. And, call me old-fashioned, but this lyric from “Social Development Dance” just makes me cringe:

I tried to find out what had happened to you,
I Googled you in quotes – got no results

Anyway, you can hear the entire album on Pete Yorn’s MySpace page for a limited time.

And below are Pete Yorn’s 2009 tour dates.

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