As its title suggests, Break Up is a concept album about the torturous ending of a tempestuous relationship. Of course, about half the pop albums recorded over the last 50 years are about that very same subject, but let’s not hold that against Peter Yorn and actress Scarlett Johansson.
Recorded more than two summers ago in producer Sonny Levine’s garage studio in LA, this nine song cycle of duets predates subsequent releases by both artists, including Johansson’s reasonably well-received debut of Tom Waits covers Anywhere I Lay My Head.
Apparently it started off as a small art project between friends. Yorn dreamed up the concept and wrote most of the songs. As he explained in a recent interview, the idea was to tell the story of “the demise of a relationship... the place where you first realise it’s not going all the way to the end and a little bit of the aftermath, and then moving on.”
An impressive interpretation of former Big Star member Chris Bell’s ‘I Am The Cosmos’ aside, all of the songs are original Yorn compositions for which Johansson laid down all of her vocals in just two afternoons. The album features contributions from guitarist Robert Francis, bassist Giuseppe Patane, violinist Amir Yaghmai and Max Goldblatt on banjo and synth bass.
It opens chirpily enough with the lilting ‘Realtor’. However, the conceptual relationship is already in trouble: “You can see that life’s for us to talk about/You can leave whenever you want out.” The next three song titles spell out its slow decline – ‘Wear And Tear’, ‘I Don’t Know What To Do’, ‘Search Your Heart’ (“Don’t blame me for your troubles”). By the time poor old ‘Blackie’s Dead’, you know it’s all over, but there’s still four more tracks to go.
Despite the subject matter, and the up and down musical mood, this isn’t an angst-ridden record. The musicianship is excellent, interesting melodies and glorious harmonies abound, and Johnansson’s singing perfectly complements Yorn’s cracked, lovelorn vocals.
It ends with ‘Someday’, a plea for for acceptance that the affair has finally ended: "All I ask for is a state of mind where I can keep myself in line/ with all the changes and all that stays the same/I think I'll leave the past behind."
It's no Blood On The Tracks, but as break-up albums go, it's up there with the worst of them.