Nearly a decade after their initial collaboration, the 2009 concept album Break Up, Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson reunited for the mini-LP Apart. As the title suggests, Apart functions as a sequel to Break Up, chronicling how a couple deals with piecing together their lives after a painful split. It's a clever idea for an album (and one that's surprisingly uncommon), and the duo's witty conceit is to have each narrator share thoughts, memories, and regrets without ever addressing the other directly. Such free-flowing melancholy finds a natural home in Apart's seamless blend of Americana craft and new wave flair, creating a shimmering sound that evokes both the peak of college rock and the postmodern alt-rock of the dawn of the 2000s. So, Apart is a bit of a throwback, but it's one that's deeply felt and executed precisely. It's absorbing enough that it's hard not to wish it were a full album, not an EP.
© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo