Scarlett Johansson and Pete Yorn - Relator

To say that the 2008 album Anywhere I Lay My Head by actress Scarlett Johansson received a mixed reaction is probably something of an understatement. Some critics panned it, others loved it. It really was a marmite album. We liked it a lot. In fact it was one of our top ten albums of last year, catch our review here.

However, before Johansson released Anywhere I Lay My Head she had recorded another collection of songs back in 2006 with Pete Yorn, and this collection is now finally to see the light of day when the album Break Up is released in September. The album was inspired by Serge Gainsbourg’s 1960s recordings with Brigitte Bardot, a concept that came to Yorn in a dream.

The debut single from the album is Relator and it is far removed from the material on Anywhere I Lay My Head. It’s a short skippy snappy tune, almost cute and summery in its vibe. We certainly can’t hear any of the smouldering sexual erotic tension that existed on the best of the Gainsbourg and Bardot tracks, this is far lighter stuff. However the voices do compliment each other, Johansson producing a vocal sounding like a dulled southern gal Winehouse with Yorn providing a light poppy tone balancing the track well. It's a song that is less likely to receive so much love or hate as her previous releases and at the risk of sounding lazy, the best word we can use to describe the song is, well, just nice.

Album Of The Year 2008 #6 - Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head

When Scarlett Johansson revealed that she was releasing an album, memories of other film stars turned rock singer nightmares rose up. The Dogstar project of Keanu Reeves anyone ? Bruce Willis doing Under the Boardwalk ? Ok, actress Juliette Lewis makes a fairly decent front woman with her band The Licks, but by and large Hollywood cool doesn’t translate well in the sonic spectrum.

Intrigue and indie credentials were added to the project with the news that Anywhere I Lay My Head would, with the exception of one self penned number, consist entirely of Tom Waits tunes and production duties had been accredited to Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio. Guest appearances with Jesus And The Mary Chain cemented the fact that Ms Johansson’s record had a strategy that was as credible and sophisticated as her best film Lost In Translation.

On release the album took very mixed reviews in the media and initially Breaking More Waves found it rather lacklustre, particularly Johansson's inexpressive vocal. However, Anywhere I Lay My Head had other ideas about itself, and was not going to sit idly at the back of the CD collection. Six months on and it sits justifiably in this list of Top Ten albums of 2008. It’s a real grower.

Johansson’s monotonous throaty alto voice may be limited but it gives the album a dark atmosphere which is then extended by the music. Full of shoe gazing droning, reverb, multi instrumentation and a backing of electronic wash, Sitek’s production has created sounds that give the recording a ghostly, hazy feel that works perfectly. There are distant backing vocals from David Bowie on the haunting Fannin Street and Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s adds guitar on a number of tracks to bolster the already impressive line up.

An impressive line up, and an impressive album that gets better with every listen. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it quenches Breaking More Waves musical thirst nicely. Here’s the song Falling Down....