The first single from the Scarlett Yornhansson collab LP Break Up was the pleasantly surprising “Relator.” Which was an original! And it worked! But it is easier to establish a stylistic identity by latching onto others’ than struggling to create your own — and Scarlett knows this well — so here she and Pete offer a cover of “I Am The Cosmos,” Chris Bell’s 1978 Car Records single that also served as the title track to a posthumous compilation of solo demos and non-Big Star singles released by Rykodisc in 1992. Pete takes a back seat, supplying harmonies and etc. to color their somewhat schizophrenic update of the original’s post-Beatles psychedelia, while Scarlett offers a lead vocal that is at least more compelling than her turns on Anywhere I Lay My Head. Hear it at Hype.
Break Up is out 9/8 via Atco/Rhino.
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Ya know, these actress-musician crossover things seemed a novel idea. I mean, She & Him has really won me over, but this Johansson – Yorn crossover… it is not good music, in my opinion.
Nevermind Scarlett — WTF was going on with the weird percussion? It was so distracting that I actually thought maybe it was a separate self-playing ad or something. Man, it’s terrible.
Yeah, the flatulent bass isn’t helping either. But it’s close enough to being great to make me want to hear the rest of the album.
this is pretty awesome….. i dig it.
this is only one small part of the great Breakup record…ive heard the whole thing and this song works perfectly within the context of the entire album.
bad choice for a cover, because NOBODY will ever have a prayer of doing it better than Bell did.
Pardon me manners, but they’re probably doin’ it? I know Zooey D married B. Gibbard, but come on. You know M. Ward sampled those goods beforehand.
Beforehand? I believe Ben and Zooey had been dating for a while before She & Him came to be.
Let M./Pete be a lesson for others willing to risk their credibility for an actress/singer. She will just go marry some other dude.
I don’t like what this “Scarlett Johansson” is doing to the talented Mr. Pete Yorn.
no…
i want to cuddle with Scarlett…like, cuddle really hard.
Another dull night and I found myself buying “Break Up.” Okay, a lot of it is easy listening – to put it safely – but it is catchable and I cannot get their Chris Bell cover out of me brain. And SJ could probably get some good backup singing work in Nashville. I would like to hear more from her and he.