AOL has the first full track from Scarlett Johansson’s first album, Anywhere I Lay My Head. The album features ten Tom Waits covers and one original song. It’s due in stores on May 20th. After listening to it, I found it to be rather… not great. I don’t want to say bad because I like Scarlett Johansson, and I think it’s ridiculous that singers can become actors, but when actors try to become singers everyone gives them a hard time. But the song just didn’t do it for me.

Johansson doesn’t sound like she’s using her natural voice. She sounds more like she’s doing a Tom Waits impression. It also sounds like her voice has been run through the computer a couple times, but that’s not uncommon with the ambient type of sound Scarlett says she was going for. Tom Waits has a very specific style of music, one that either works for you or doesn’t. Choosing to do a first album that’s composed entirely of Waits covers is a pretty gutsy move – but it’s tough to say whether or not guts equals smarts in this case. Rolling Stone seems impressed with Johansson’s efforts – and they’ve likely heard the whole album.

~ Frankly, we’re pretty impressed by Scarlett Johansson’s first real foray into music, Anywhere I Lay My Head, a collection of Tom Waits songs. After time-consuming attempts at finding a producer to help her nail the sounds she’d imagined, Johansson met her match in Dave Sitek, guitarist for TV on the Radio. “I knew I wanted a sort of dreamlike, ambient sound, and we didn’t want to shy away from the cinematic aspects of the songs,” Johansson tells the S.S.

“Dave and I had the same vision, and it turned out to be everything I’d imagined.” With musicians like Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zinner, the crew holed up at a Louisiana studio, and the bayou vibe crept into recordings like “Green Grass,” “Town With No Cheer” and, of course, “I Wish I Was in New Orleans.” (David Bowie makes an appearance, doing backing vocals.) Though Waits hasn’t yet heard Johansson’s takes on his tunes, Johansson doesn’t seem nervous: “Once we started recording, I became less fearful of encountering Tom Waits in a dark room with a mallet.”

[From Rolling Stone]

I will be eager to hear what the rest of the album sounds like. It’s clearly not some superficial attempt at a singing career, a la Paris Hilton or Nicole Richie. Johansson is a smart woman who put a lot of thought and work into her album, and I’m betting that those really into this particular type of music will think she’s done a great job.

Here are the promo photos for Scarlett’s album. Thanks to Agent Bedhead for the pictures.