Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson are pretty common household names in their given arenas. However, not many people seem to be aware of what happens when you put them on the same stage, or rather the same studio, in this case.

Break Up, an album that came out last August on Rhino Records, is chocked full of the haunting, sometimes lazy sounding singing style of Ms. Johansson, and the almost perfectly-preserved 90s relic that is Mr. Yorn. The result, is the soundtrack of your Sunday jaunt to the grocery store, Saturday morning breakfast at home, or evening walk through the park at dusk. In other words, this uncommon pair creates a common sounding album that produces uncommonly uplifting results.

With a title like Break Up, you probably don’t expect to be uplifted when you select this album on your iPod, but let’s be honest with ourselves, the subject matter is exactly what we need to feel content with our day. When it comes to the media we consume every day, we don’t want rainbows and butterflies, we need a little grit, grime and dirt from others to make ourselves feel normal.

We also need a bit of soul searching music–the kind that lulls you into a restless, yet comfortable purgatory of self-examination that leads to progress. The first song gives you a jolt of energy to start cleaning your apartment, fill your basket with “healthy” meal items, or put on your shoes to walk off last night’s mistakes. By the middle of the album, you’re ready to confront the anxiety that lies directly below the surface and delve deeper into the roots to find the real problem. By the end, you’re a little tired, but filled with enough pride, or desperation, to push through to the finish line with a solution. Then, the album ends. You snap back into reality, and you quickly forget you ever had to go through that 28:53 minute journey in the first place.

But there is one startling difference. You feel better. You never knew anything was wrong in the first place, but now you feel better.

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