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Family fun: Music

Scarlett Johansson (pictured) and Pete Yorn teamed up for an album of duets, "Break Up." Courtesy

By JENNIFER CHANCELLOR World Scene Writer
Published: 10/5/2009 2:20 AM
Last Modified: 10/5/2009 8:35 AM

Yorn again: 'Break Up' wasn't hard to do

It's bouncy and bright, sonically offbeat, jangly. hooky and saturated with emotion. Spawned from Pete Yorn's distressing breakup in 2006, "Break Up" is a duets album recorded with singer and actress Scarlett Johansson.

The project came to life after a week of insomnia coupled with inspiration from influential French singer-songwriter-director Serge Gainsbourg's 1960s recordings with Brigitte Bardot.

Far from the downer its title would suggest, this nine-song story of tempestuous relations translates the quirks of love into a sonic voyage with strings, pianos, horns, electronic elements, banjo, synth bass, acoustic and electric guitars and, of course, Yorn's and Johansson's oh-so-complimentary voices.

It's not so much about breaking up as it is about love. "It sounded like an interesting little adventure," Johansson said in a press statement. "The idea of two people vocalizing their relationship through duets."

Indeed, the compositions (and one powerful cover, Big Star founder Chris Bell's "I Am the Cosmos") originally were intended for Yorn's ears only. But, as more people heard the album, Yorn was convinced to release the work.

It was recorded in his garage studio, and Johansson learned the lyrics "on the fly." Not that anyone will notice.

The intimacy and offbeat chemistry effervesces throughout gentle and bewitching tunes such as "Shampoo," "Someday," "Search Your Heart" and "Blackie's Dead."

The tunes evoke Beck and the Velvet Underground, Moldy Peaches and Cat Power — beauty and loneliness, darkness and humor, and honesty and redemption.

Break Up

Artist: Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson

Available at: online and retail outlets

Release date: Sept. 15 on Atco Records

Rating: 92 (of 100)

Download: “Relator,” “Blackie’s Dead,” “Wear and Tear,” “I Am the Cosmos”

By JENNIFER CHANCELLOR World Scene Writer

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	Report Comment SRV, (10/5/2009 10:15:06 AM) I'll pass....
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