Pete Yorn @ Holy Diver

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Pete Yorn – It’s hard to think of anything more starkly reliable than the ticking of a clock, but time is an untrustworthy thing. It feels like ages since we’ve had a proper Pete Yorn LP to dissect, though it’s been just five years. And it seems like only yesterday that we first heard musicforthemorningafter, which came out back in 2001. Yorn’s brand new album and Capitol Records debut, ArrangingTime, plays with the elasticity of the years both in between and since — it’s not only a culmination of the Los Angeles by way of New Jersey artist’s adventurous latter-day projects, but a return to his original leaner methods.

For the first time since 2003’s Day I Forgot, producer R. Walt Vincent returns to help Yorn execute his most poised and diverse set of songs yet. ArrangingTime runs the gamut from elegiac folk to wasteland blues to upbeat, synth-kissed rock. Of course, some things never change. Yorn still plays the observer, stepping into characters — or his past selves from previous years — routing wistful poems and beatific visions through the weather-beaten voice of a man who’s seen a few things in his time.

Music chooses its vessels early on.

At three-years-old, Rain Phoenix first uncovered her voice. Standing next to late big brother River, she belted along as he strummed “a guitar way too big for his five-year-old body.” Her story as an artist started there.
“My first music memory was singing along to my brother at three,” she recalls. “The rest was history. From that day on, I sang with him. We maintained the same connectivity until I was twenty. Music has always been me next to him. All of the other incarnations of me playing in bands was just trying to understand how to make music without him. Through the process of making my solo record, I realized that instead of trying to understand music without him, I needed to include him, because he never really left.”

These intimate moments set the stage for a fascinating musical journey. At the age of sixteen, she joined River in his band Aleka’s Attic, developing a devoted following based on early recordings such as “Goldmine,” “Too Many Colors,” and “Across the Way.” Rain lent her voice as a backup vocalist to various legendary groups, working with R.E.M. in the studio and accompanying Red Hot Chili Peppers on the One Hot Minute Tour. Alongside sister Summer, she joined new wave punk upstarts The Causey Way in 1997, releasing a pair of albums and EPs. 2003 saw her form papercranes, which she fronted for the next decade through a prolific series of full-length albums and EPs. Not only did sisters Summer and Liberty guest on various tracks, but the band welcomed a rotating cast of talented friends and collaborators, including Kirk Hellie. A devoted artist-activist, she was also a founding member of the NYC political cabaret The Citizens Band (2004-2014), performing alongside a wide array of notable artists, activists, and musicians. In 2013, she co-founded the folk duo Venus and The Moon garnering acclaim from
Entertainment Weekly, Vice, LA Weekly, and more. On Valentine’s Day 2019 Rain released her first single as a solo artist “Time is the Killer” featuring Michael Stipe, as part of a special vinyl release that included two Aleka’s Attic songs entitled Time Gone. From there, her solo record River flowed.

Additionally, Rain remains a committed philanthropist. In addition to serving on the board of both the River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding and The Lunchbox Fund, she also supports The Art of Elysium and founded Gift Horse Project which later became LaunchLeft “an alliance of left-of-center artists.”

The latter doubles as a podcast and label home for both Aleka’s Attic and her record River, + 2020 will see the release of various new artists on the LaunchLeft imprint.

“LaunchLeft is an artist launching platform – a space for famed creatives to launch the next wave of music rebels. It’s about backing artists who are passionate, challenge the status quo and push boundaries with their work whether it’s popular or not,” she leaves off. “My brother espoused this same ethos. He invited me into Aleka’s Attic and taught me so much about all things creative. It’s a platform for mentorship and cultural change. It will eventually include all art forms, but it starts with music—like my journey did.”

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