WERS 88.9 fm - Album ReviewL Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson - Break Up

October 6, 2009

Sometimes in order to move forward, it's necessary to go back. For their new album, Break Up, Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson went back—back in time, that is. The album is pop in the purest sense of the word, bringing to mind the simple, soulful tunes of the early 1960s. The popular single, "Relator," is like a reinvention of the Beatles' song "All My Lovin'," with lyrics like "Now I'm away, I write home everyday/ And I see you on the TV at night," except the sentiment is obviously changed in Yorn's version. Rather than a tale of lovers separated by circumstance, it is a tale of lovers torn apart by their own differences. Along with stories of heartbreak are songs that make you move. "I Don't Know What To Do," is that slow-moving beat that starts in your shoulders and spreads to the tips of your fingers, with the same sound and percussion that might have been heard at a high school prom in the era of saddle shoes and black and white television sets. This song perfectly captures the sentiment of the album: "Every time I am reminded/ Of the good thing that we used to know/ And I know you're not expecting to go on second guessing/ But I think it's for the best."

The theme of the album is carried smoothly and consistantly, with instrumentation that rises and falls naturally like the emotional curves of an ended relationship. "Break Up," captures a couple during their worst moment together, when they stop being "us" and have to figure out how to be two separate people again. Residing perfectly in the middle of the album, the peaceful calm in a storm, is a beautiful cover of Big Star's "I Am the Cosmos," which showcases Johansson's lovely voice while betraying the feeling of regret that is inevitably felt. With lyrics like "Last thing I remember/ Things were getting better/ And I'd go anywhere with you/ Here I go again/ Late for another passing trend," "Shampoo" continues this motif, dealing with things might have been better.

Yorn and Johansson often harmonize so well that it seems strange they would be singing about a break up. The cadence of their voices and the soulful way they duet suggest that they should be singing about everlasting love, but in a way, it's appropriate. Yorn reminds us that music can be perfect, but people rarely are. To round out the album, he ends "Someday," with the lyrics, "You're still my only friend, but/ Light a candle/ It slowly flickers out/ As the memory fades away." Break Up will make you experience pain and loss, love and regret, but you will eventually find closure.

-By Elizabeth Uzzell