The year 2009 seems to be a very busy and productive year for singer and songwriter Pete Yorn. He teamed up with actress and singer Scarlett Johansson for a collaborative new effort and, after his fourth album “Back and Fourth” hits stores on June 23, he’s scheduled to release a Serge Gainsbourg/Brigitte Bardot-style duets record with Scarlett Johansson this fall.
USA Today reports that the album, entitled “Break Up,” is a set of nine songs and is due September 8 via Atco/Rhino. It was inspired by Serge Gainsbourg’s recordings with Brigitte Bardot in the ’60s. According to the American magazine, Yorn wanted to work with the actress after the idea came to him in a dream. In a release, Yorn says “I was having a strange week of insomnia and when I finally passed out, it came to me in a dream. I woke up and the whole thing was in my head, fully formed.” Only after playing the resulting recording efforts for a few friends, was Yorn convinced to finally release “Break Up.”
“Break Up” - a name evoking a robot that is manufactured to love. But it’s ironic, of course - Scarlett and Pete play a couple struggling to connect, and the language reflects that. So, too, does their singing: Scarlett’s syrupy, dreamy; Pete’s insistent, quavery. It’s a rare kind of interplay. And a rare kind of song: a pieced-together little number that evokes all kinds of classic pop. Produced by Sunny Levine, “Break Up” consists of originals penned by Yorn plus a cover of Chris Bell’s “I Am the Cosmos” to create a story of getting together and breaking up. While best known for her film work (”Lost In Translation,” “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” “Match Point”), Johansson recorded the sessions with Yorn in only two afternoons some time in 2006, two years before Johannson released her 2008 Tom Waits cover album “Anywhere I Lay My Head” , under the production helm of TV on the Radio’s David Sitek. The album featured 10 Tom Waits covers along with one original and was met with mixed critical reception. According to Nielson SoundScan, “Anywhere I Lay My Head” has sold 19,000.

Here is the track list for “Break Up”:
“Relator”
“Wear and Tear”
“I Don’t Know What To Do”
“Search Your Heart”
“Blackie’s Dead”
“I Am The Cosmos”
“Shampoo”
“Clean”
“Someday”
However, it is still unknown whether or not he and Johansson will bring “Break Up” to a live setting.

sources Billboard.com; Nymag.com;

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 31st, 2009 at 4:56 am and is filed under News.