Pete Yorn is not a pop star.

Despite strong sales of his latest album, "Day I Forgot," Yorn doesn't fit into a tight little pop radio demographic. He's the real deal -- the kind of guy who dives deep into his work and does it the old-fashioned way: by himself.

Why?

"It's fun and it's easy for me to get it all down the way I want it. That's just the way I work," he says. "Maybe someday I'll evolve into working with a whole band, but for now it's not where I'm at."

"Tech Live" caught up with Yorn on the set of his exclusive concert, "Sessions@AOL," AOL members' equivalent of MTV's acoustic series "Unplugged." His newest effort hit number 18 two weeks ago when it premiered on the Billboard charts.

Young Yorn's one-man band

Besides playing drums, guitar, and bass, Yorn also writes every song, sings, and produces the tracks. Sure, there are three guest musicians on the tracks -- REM's Peter Buck, for example -- but their parts are usually some specialty Yorn hasn't polished yet, like Buck's mandolin.

Give Yorn time. The Jersey-born musician is only 26 years old, after all.

The songwriter credits technology with helping him make music. "I make my records on a Mac. I was always a PC guy, so now I have a Mac and I'm excited," he says. "I just got the new Apple 17-inch notebook."

He's also into the convenience PDAs provide a musician on the road. "My little AOL Blackberry PDA, I have to have that," he says. "I didn't used to have to have one, but since someone gave me one I haven't been able to live without it... I can get so much done, just IMing and sending emails."

Yorn's audience is tech-savvy, too, and the singer often reaches out to fans through his website. "I go on the message board sometimes. The fans that are on it are really cool, and genuinely nice people and they are positive about everything. It keeps me going."

Likes fans, not reviews

But we all know the Internet is a ripe venue for people to take potshots, especially when critics can remain anonymous.

"I try not to read reviews," he says. "Every once in awhile it's unavoidable, but I'm trying to get out of that, because my sister-in-law told me that if you believe the good reviews, you have to believe the bad reviews. On my message board I have great fans, so whatever, it's cool that they are on."

Yorn's audience found him mostly through word of mouth. Performing online for AOL is a big deal to him and other artists like him who aren't often heard on MTV or the radio. As for his latest album -- his second -- Yorn isn't expecting the dreaded sophomore slump.

"I think it's just a natural progression," he says. "I made 'Musicforthemorningafter' three years ago. I was just kind of into different things," he says, describing the difference between albums.

"I think some people make the mistake of going into their second records trying to recapture something that worked for them in the first one. I wasn't concerned with that. I was concerned with moving forward and capturing some new stuff. It's more of a rock record, for sure."