Shea: Rockers and actresses make an excellent combo

Monday. It’s mocha morning for me.

While waiting in line for my chocolaty indulgence this week at Starbucks, my eyes fell on something, believe it or not, that looked even better.

On the counter between a re-re-re-released version of Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band were the dark and sexy, yet manly, curls and ever-effective pwhoa effect of Pete Yorn smiling at me from behind some dark sunglasses.

Some mornings are just good.

But what actually surprised me more than my indie-boy crush staring me down at Starbucks was the fact that Scarlett Johansson was standing behind him on the cover of their new collaborative album, Breakup.

Equipped with a love for Pete and the knowledge that Johansson’s last recording attempt (a Tom Waits cover album produced by Dave Sitek) was feeble at best, I was genuinely curious about what the two would have to show for themselves.

In truth, despite Johansson’s previously lame recording career, she does have a cool and jazzy voice, comparable to Zooey Deschanel, another actress-turned-singer.

Like Johansson, Deschanel found herself a veteran indie singer-songwriter to team up with for a collaboration album, in her case Portland rocker M. Ward.

The Deschanel-Ward collaboration, known as She & Him, put out the critically acclaimed album Volume One last year and got such a positive response that the two are now working on Volume Two, which is scheduled for release in 2010.

Clearly Hollywood sweethearts and indie-rocker collaborations have some potential for movie stars and musicians trying to boost their career, but could the Johansson and Yorn pairing repeat the success of She & Him?

One power walk down Forbes Avenue later, I was streaming the album’s single “Relator” from my office computer and I had my answer.

The clanky electro beat had me tapping my toes, singing along and immediately enamored with the duo.

Though “Relator” is easily the highlight of Breakup, the other eight tracks of the album certainly don’t disappoint.

As it turns out, Johansson’s voice is far better suited to Yorn’s jaunty electro-pop than it was to the growling Tom Waits’ folk songs.

Johansson’s smooth and jazzy voice croons in harmony with Yorn’s to create upbeat and fun duets as well as slower songs, with a similar style and mood of some of She & Him’s material on Volume One.

Additionally, Breakup features some of the best songwriting fans have seen from Yorn in a few years.

Whether or not She & Him’s success started a new collaboration trend, as Scarlett Johansson and Pete Yorn showed, the equation of jazzy-voiced actress + indie songwriting dude proves to yield a great collaboration album and plenty of promotional media.

That’s not to say a Megan Fox and Axel Rose collaboration would produce quite the same results, but for now collaborations between folky and fun actresses and musicians have my seal of approval.