By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY
The melodic relationship arc of singer/songwriter Pete Yorn and actress Scarlett Johansson: They get together, sing a few love songs and break up.
It's not exactly tragic, since Break Up is a collection of duets the pair recorded with producer Sunny Levine. Yorn's eight original compositions and Big Star founder Chris Bell's I Am the Cosmos form a song cycle that chronicles a tempestuous affair.
The album, out Sept. 15 on Atco/Rhino, was inspired by Serge Gainsbourg's 1960s recordings with Brigitte Bardot, a concept that came to Yorn in a dream. He later reached out to Johansson, who sewed up her vocals in two afternoon sessions. A free stream of opening tune Relator is available at www.thebreakupalbum.com
Break Up was recorded two years before Johansson released her debut album of Tom Waits covers, 2008's Anywhere I Lay My Head. Yorn will release his fourth studio album, Back and Fourth, June 23.
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