Break Up - Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson

Includes eight original compositions by Pete/Scarlett in the spirit of Serge Gainsbourg's recording with Brigitte

Bardot. The album re-enacts the tempestuous course of a love affair on the rocks. Featuring an interpretation of the

art-rock classic 'I Am the Cosmos' by the late Chris Bell co-founder of Big Star. 'Break Up' is Johansson's 2nd release

with Atco, following her debut, 'Anywhere I Lay My Head'. The album had its genesis in the aftermath of a breakup in

2006. After Yorn was unable to sleep for a week, he finally dozed off, only to wake with a start just minutes later.

What had awakened him was a dream. "I sat up in bed, and the whole thing was in my head, fully formed," Yorn

says, sounding as if he still doesn't quite believe it. "I suddenly felt like I really needed to make a record in

the style of Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot. Not that it had to sound like that, but it had to be a guy-and-girl

conceptual thing. So then I asked myself, 'Who's Brigitte Bardot today? It's Scarlett Johansson.'" Yorn gave

Johansson a call. Intrigued by his out-of-the-blue invitation, she decided to go for it. "Pete told me that he'd

had a dream that we recorded an album together," she recalls, "and with that momentum, he had written eight

songs that he'd wanted to record pretty low-key. I've always loved Pete's voice and have been friends with him for some

time. It sounded like an interesting little adventure. He used the Serge and Brigitte recordings as reference for the

ambiance he was trying to capture. He liked the idea of two people vocalizing their relationship through duets."





Recording information: Orange Stella Studios, Venice, CA.

Photographer: Jim Wright.

Personnel: Scarlett Johansson (vocals); Pete Yorn (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, banjo, piano, tambourine);

Robert Francis (electric guitar, slide guitar, pedal steel guitar, banjo); Max Goldblatt (banjo, bass synthesizer,

background vocals); Amir Yaghmai (strings, synthesizer); Sunny Levine (bass synthesizer, programming).

Audio Mixer: Sunny Levine.

Songs

1. Relator


2. Wear And Tear


3. I Don't Know What To Do


4. Search Your Heart


5. Blackie's Dead


6. I Am The Cosmos


7. Shampoo


8. Clean


9. Someday