Pete Yorn

Between 2009 and 2010, Pete Yorn released three albums. Each demonstrated different shades of his musical personality (though it could be said that all the shades are classic Ray-Bans, and the dude's darkest hours are still good-hair days). These albums included Back and Fourth, a collaboration with Bright Eyes producer Mike Mogis, and Break Up, a duets album with Scarlett Johansson (and a toned-down tribute to the Serge Gainsbourg-Brigitte Bardot pairing). The third release is a self-titled full-length, banged out in five days with Frank Black. Although the Pixies leader claimed that he pushed Yorn to his roughest and rawest points, the results recall the gentle, modern-radio rock of the singer-songwriter's critically lauded 2001 debut, musicforthemorningafter. The tinny propulsion and restrained insistence of Yorn's vocals on the single "Precious Stone" even echo that album's "Strange Condition," one of his biggest hits.