Anywhere I Lay My Head
Actress Scarlett Johansson’s solo musical debut is a lovely collection of hazy, ephemeral, narco-pop, a distant cousin to early 4AD artists (Lush, Pale Saints, Lisa Germano) and early-‘70s folk rock (Tim Buckley, Big Star). Produced by TV On the Radio’s Dave Sitek, Johansson pours her longtime affection for Tom Waits into covering a slew of his songs, which is gutsy in itself; not that she’s playing the breathy sex kitten taking on the wizened and whiskered troubadour — she’s got a fairly gutsy, bluesy, crooner style, in fact — but any newcomer taking on such a revered figure has got to have some trepidation. With the songs thoroughly filtered into new creations, the only misstep here is that producer Sitek laid on the atmospherics a bit too thick; when Johansson’s not lost in the fog, her voice is inarguably seductive and powerful. Strip away a layer of keyboard haze on the title track, on “Falling Down” or “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up,” and you’ll find a vocal as strong as any indie chanteuse. Her sharp edges on tracks like “Town With No Cheer” and “Green Grass” pay tribute to her muse — with a little sugar added.
Actress Scarlett Johansson unveils her anti-vanity vanity project, a record of Tom Waits covers (with one original) that belongs as much to its producer, TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek, as it does to the Lost in Translation star. If this isn't weird enough already, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Nick Zinner and David Bowie are among the guests.
Let's take a moment to set aside the months of mockery and premature backlash leading up to the release of Scarlett Johansson's first album—an 11-song collection dominated by Tom Waits covers—and cast it in a different light. Imagine Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio creating an avant-garde easy-listening tribute to…
As an actress, Scarlett Johansson often gives herself over to being an object of fantasy -- not necessarily in a purely carnal fashion, but something rather more complicated: wish fulfillment for her directors. Sofia Coppola turned Scarlett into a romanticized version of herself, Woody Allen was comfortable casting her as both a lethal sophisticated seductress and ditsy bombshell, while even Michael Bay turned her into some kind of empty cloned sex kitten. Given this history, perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise that her debut album, Anywhere I Lay My Head, is an extension of this pattern, as Dave Sitek -- pivotal member of TV on the Radio, producer of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the Foals -- helps turn Scarlett into a 4AD diva, partially with the assistance of Ivo Watts, who helped sequence the album. And yet, it is a surprise that she gives herself over to Sitek so willingly that it's impossible to tell what parts of the album were driven by Johansson and what parts are wish fulfillments from Sitek, who seems to be bent on creating his own dream pop fantasy. Certainly, Anywhere I Lay My Head is not strictly a Tom Waits tribute, as the songs are rearranged so drastically they're only used as a vehicle for texture -- dense, crawling texture, occasionally recalling the junkyard percussion of the Waits of Swordfishtrombones ("Green Grass" retains that same clattering kalimba rhythms).
<p>It's not the first Tom Waits covers album, but it may be the most intriguing, writes <strong>Barney Hoskyns</strong></p>