Album Review: Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson "Break Up"

*sigh*

I really have a problem with actors/actresses who decide they want to put out an album. For example: I enjoyed Zooey Deschanel's singing in the movie "Elf", but the cd she did under the name "She & Him" was uneven at best, and actually not enjoyable to me (I wound up giving the cd away after a few listens). When I found out that Pete Yorn had a new cd coming out on the heels of the recently-released "Back & Fourth", I was elated! Until I heard that it was a shared bill with Scarlett Johansson.

I saw the video for the first song, "Relator", on VH1 a week or so ago, and it validated my suspicions: while the music was good (as Pete's almost always is), the female voice sounded like it was being phoned in to a vanity project. Still, it had a catchy beat.

Break Up - Scarlett Johansson,...

Fast-forward (flash back?) to this past Tuesday: I caved and bought the cd when I found a Newbury Comics coupon in my e-mail ($8.99), figuring that Mr. Yorn's music might outweigh what I imagined would be a car-crash of sorry singing by yet another amateur actress. After ten listens (I played it four times straight through while I was sketching the day I bought it, and at least once a day since), it's actually Not (completely) Lame Minus (I couldn't resist). There are a few good songs, and a few annoying ones. It would be MUCH better if Scarlett hadn't overlain her bored and nasally "yes, I am an actor, but music is my first love" vocal dabblings on Pete's songs. But she is good on a few.

I recommend the disc as a whole for background music at a casual get-together, or as a palate-cleanser between cds you really love (haha), say Pete's other cd's, Mojave 3, or John Mayer. Or if you are a fan of Jack Johnson (I am not), Scarlett's singing is just as bored and lazy, and it would fit right in. My official review:

"Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson's 'Break Up' is a pleasantly bland aural cracker, whose main purpose seems to be to help you enjoy the finer vintages of music you listen to on either side of it. Though there are a few tasty crumbs within."

Now tell me how you liked it! ☺