When Scarlett Johansson's name was linked to the role of Courtney Love in the forthcoming adaptation of Kurt biopic Heavier Than Heaven, it was a rumour we were inclined to believe. Not just because of insider knowledge, but because we at NME had heard word that Scarlett was about to do a pretty decent turn as a rock star in her own right.

Buzz around her debut album as a real-life muso, Anywhere I Lay My Head, has been buzzing for a while now. And this week it arrived in the postbags of us U.K. journalists.

And simply: Wow.

If you thought a Hollywood A-lister recording an album of Tom Waits covers sounded like a folly too far, it's because you couldn't have imagined a Hollywood A-lister could throw such a totemic curveball of a vocal performance. She sounds like Nico, only grander, and more like a space alien. And possibly even more nonchalant and detached. It's like Dusty Springfield was in My Bloody Valentine.

All complete with breathtaking production from Dave Sitek--named only last week in NME as the number-one most exciting futurist innovator operating in music right now. And guest vocals from David Bowie. And guitars from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Nick Zinner. What's not to go silly over?

With Amy Winehouse turning Bond Girl (sorta), barriers are becoming nicely blurred by a new generation of she-rockers who recall an older kind of star magic. A fantasy line between futurist music and old-school Hollywood.

We're not so sure about today's news that Nicole Kidman (a woman last heard duetting "Somethin' Stupid" with Robbie Williams) is going to produce and star in a movie about Dusty Springfield, but you can't have everything:

http://www.nme.com/news/dusty-springfield/36375

Check out a future issue of NME for an exclusive in-depth interview with Scarlett herself, and try and cross your legs until Anywhere I Lay My Head is released later this month, because it will slay you.