All The Beauty

All The Beauty

Pete Yorn’s 10th album of original material follows the 25th-anniversary tour for his breakthrough 2001 debut, musicforthemorningafter—and that confluence provides a useful yardstick for gauging both Yorn’s unerring consistency as a singer-songwriter and his ongoing evolution as an artist who’s always sought to modernize the traditional troubadour template. All the Beauty shows Yorn is still a master of crafting easygoing roots-rock songs about navigating difficult interpersonal situations, in a chill, bleary-eyed tone that suggests he just woke up and isn’t in any hurry to face the day. But his acoustic-based serenades subtly absorb the influence of synthy post-Phoenix indie (the title track), arm-swaying Britpop ballads (“Out of My Head”), and War on Drugs-style open-road odysseys (“Estate”). And for all the innate melancholy embedded in Yorn’s lyrics and voice, All the Beauty is ultimately animated by his gratitude for the things that bring light to the world in the darkest times, be it the beauty of nature (“Idyllwild”) or the love of your life (“Everything”). Favorite song: “Magic (Helpless),” which sets an intimate indie-folk confessional to a muted house beat, as if Yorn is initiating a private bedroom conversation while a dance party rages in the apartment next door.

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