Duet records is a rare thing in today's world of pop music in which two people make a record together based on a concept or just in a simple collaboration. The most recent is the She & Him project by actress Zooey Deschanel and indie-folk artist M. Ward that garnered rave reviews. Now another actress and musician is being paired up for a project similar to She & Him in the form of Scarlett Johansson and Pete Yorn. Though the project originally started in 2006, the record hadn't been released until 2009 just as Yorn had returned to the music scene following a brief hiatus between 2006 and 2009 in which he released his fourth studio album Back and Fourth. With Yorn returning to the music scene, he also decides to release the project he made with Johansson entitled Break Up.

Produced by Sunny Levine and eight original songs written by Pete Yorn with one being a cover of the Chris Bell song I Am The Cosmos. Break Up is an album inspired by the musical pairings of Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot among others including the Lee Hazelwood/Nancy Sinatra collaborations. With songs delving into the themes of break ups, the musical style is a mixture of Yorn's singer-songwriter style as he delves into elements of country and folk. For Johansson, it allows her to play a foil of sorts for Yorn. Despite its intentions, Break Up ends up being a dull, uninspiring duet album from Yorn and Johansson.

The opening track and leading single is Relator, an interpretation of sorts on the Beatles' All My Loving. With its bouncy rhythm, Johansson's husky, warbling vocals, and twangy country riffs provided by Yorn. It's a nice single that features chugging sounds of noises with the guitars that has Yorn singing along with Johansson though Johansson's vocals tend to be a distraction through whatever mix producer Sunny Levine tried to do. Wear And Tear is an upbeat track with melodic piano and banjo flourishes. With Yorn's calm, heart-wrenching vocals leading the way, it is filled with melancholic lyrics with Johansson singing in the background for the chorus until she sings the bridge with a weird, warbled vocal mix surrounding her voice. I Don't Know What To Do is a ballad that has Yorn in a falsetto vocal style of sorts. With a slow, bouncy rhythm and somber lyrics, Johansson starts to sing in a country drawl with nasally vocal notes that are overdone. With sounds of chugging acoustic guitars, crashing pianos and such, it's a song that tries to do a lot but with no sense of direction.

Search Your Heart is a bouncy, mid-tempo track with thumping beats, chugging guitars, and soft vocals from Yorn and Johansson. With Yorn singing the verse, Johansson starts to sing the verse before the chorus as it's a song that doesn't have much going for it as it comes across as unmemorable despite some nice vocal performances. Blackie's Dead is an upbeat track with ringing guitar riffs and growling riffs with Yorn's raspy vocals leading the way until Johansson's vocals arrive for a verse as she sings in a robotic, vocal style. With growling guitars and tingling xylophone tracks in the background, it's one of the few tracks that really stands out. Next is a cover of Chris Bells' I Am The Cosmos opens with washy guitar flourishes and tick-tock sounds to Johansson's husky, warbling vocals. With Yorn joining in the background, it's a song that is overdone in its production as it provides too much distorted electronic with folk and country which does a lot of injustice to the cult song from the late co-founder of Big Star.

Shampoo is another electro-folk track with distorted synthesizer drones, washy acoustic, and bopping beats. With Yorn singing the song with Johansson singing in the background, it's a song that features swirling synthesizers. Despite some nice ideas, the song is dull in its delivery and production. Clean is a somber ballad with soft, driving guitar tracks as both Yorn and Johansson sing softly with warbling, haunting beats. With clapping beats in the background for the chorus, the song reaches elements of boredom as it comes out flat in its performance. The last track Someday is a dreamy, country-inspired track with acoustic flourishes and Yorn's somber vocals with melancholic lyrics. With Johansson on backing vocals, the song includes some thumping beats and a banjo as its presentation gives the album a fitting though underwhelming close.

While the record does follow the formula and what is expected in the duet albums. The problem is its execution. Pete Yorn is a talented songwriter but hasn't really made any strong material since Day I Forgot back in 2003 often dabbling with experiments and such. Sometimes, the experiments work but often at the expense of his songwriting capabilities. Another problem with the record is that once it's being heard, there's an immediate response for the fact that people will be thinking about the She & Him project from Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward that came out in 2008. The comparisons to the Yorn/Johansson project with the She & Him project would be unfair and unfortunate since Break Up was conceived back in 2006. Sadly, the Yorn/Johansson project doesn't live up to the richness of She & Him.

At the same time, Johansson is known not to be a strong vocalist since she's often buried by what's going on in the production. Like her debut album Anywhere I Lay My Head, it's a record where the producer tries to do a lot of vocal tricks to make up for her shortcomings and it ends up being overproduced. Whenever Johansson is given a chance to sing, she does have her moments but her lack of range and personality towards the songs make things awkward at times. Plus, the material really lacks any weight for her to have any kind of input into them as the overall record comes across as lifeless and uninspiring in most respects.

Break Up despite its intentions and a few moments is a dull duet album from Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson. Fans of Yorn will be disappointed by the lack of strong material and his execution towards the project. Fans of Johansson will enjoy because she's in it but it won't be something they'll hear in the long run. Notably for the fact that she should just give up any attempt at a singing career. Another problem is that it's a record that is forced listeners with a more richer taste in music to think about other and better albums, notably the Serge Gainsbourg-Brigitte Bardot albums and the She & Him collaboration. In the end, Break Up is not the right record to get over a break-up only to leave the heartbroken get beaten up.

Related Reviews: Serge Gainsbourg-Comic Strip - Chris Bell-I Am the Cosmos - Pete Yorn-Musicforthemorningafter - Pete Yorn-Day I Forgot - Dean Wareham & Britta Phillips-L'Avventura - Scarlett Johansson-Anywhere I Lay My Head - She & Him-Volume One

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: At Work