Tom Waits owns one of the most indelible voices in all of music, a ragged, sometimes hysterical rasp that may not be mellifluous to the ear but is positively soaked with humanity and emotion. The actress Scarlett Johansson knows something herself about the power of voices, her own seductively deep timbre contributing not insignificantly to her status as seemingly every straight male's feminine ideal. Even accounting for her considerable indie cred as star of "Lost in Translation," however, Johansson's decision to devote an entire album to covering eternal oddball Waits is itself a consummate head-scratcher.
Tackling the vaunted Waits songbook, Johansson shows prudence in not attempting to replicate her subject's broken-glass cackle. Unfortunately, she also allows too little of her own estimable charm to penetrate the project, leaning instead on producer Dave Sitek (of TV on the Radio fame) to frequently sheath her voice in countless layers of studio gauze.
No doubt it's interesting to hear deliberately warty Waits nuggets like the title track recast to emphasize atmosphere and mood, and Sitek is a true wizard of sound who deserves most of the credit for the record's listenability. Still, his efforts fare best when he's able to work with an actual melody, and when Johansson isn't rendered static as well.
"Town With No Cheer" wobbles but still captivates, while "Falling Down" and "Fannin Street" find Johansson actually commanding attention. Regrettably, the second half of the record falters from too many narcoleptic tunes that bury Waits' lyrics deep in the mix, apparently forgetting it was those words, and Waits' delivery, that made a song like "Who Are You" so great in the first place.
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