Posts Tagged ‘M. Ward’
Album Review: She & Him – “Volume Two”
Why does it always seem like every day I write about She & Him, the weather outside is dim and gloomy?
I think it’s because the universe knows that the answer to a dim and gloomy day is putting on a She & Him record. As expected, the group’s new album, Volume Two, did the trick.
Most of you probably know that the “She” and “Him” of the band’s name are actress Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward respectively. Of course, there’s a lot more She than Him, but that suits the music just fine. Ward is the producer and mostly hangs out in the background, strumming a quiet, mellow guitar, adding some subtle synths here and there, and lending his smoothed-out, super-relaxed croon to a few numbers. His contributions are more noticeable this time around than they were on Volume One, but really, that’s like saying a smidgen is more than a smidge.
No, this is primarily Zooey’s show, and once again she runs with it.
It’s a cloudy, overcast day where I am.
But I’ve got just the thing to brighten it up. She & Him have released the video for their new song “In The Sun.”
You’ve gotta love Zooey’s dance moves. And the slow-mo hoola hoop pan in is perfect. Damn, she’s adorable. Oh, and M. Ward looks like a badass.
Volume Two comes out on March 23rd.
-Sam
She and Him ready Volume Two
In my opinion, Zooey Deschanel can do no wrong.
She’s a terrific actress (Almost Famous, Elf, The Go-Getter, and (500) Days of Summer to name but a few). She’s amazingly cute. She seems like a genuinely kind and down to earth person. And, oh yeah, she’s got a fantastic voice.
She’s shown off her pipes in a lot of the movies she’s been in (remember “Baby, it’s cold outside“?). But she’s really able to let her singing shine in her band, She and Him, which she works on in between her acting gigs. (For a great mash-up between her movies and her music, check out this video she made with Joseph Gordon-Levitt for (500) Days which features one of her She and Him songs.)
She and Him is comprised of Zooey and M. Ward, a prominent indie music guitarist and singer-songwriter.
Their excellent first album, Volume One, was released in 2008. And now, their fittingly titled second album, Volume Two, is set to be released on March 23rd.
Volume Two is likely to follow in the same vein as Volume One, which basically means more of the same warm Sixties and Seventies style folk-rock that I’m guessing for many people in their twenties and thirties might elicit a fond nostalgia for the kind of music their parents probably listened to around the house when they were kids.
The first single from the new disc was released recently. It’s called “In the Sun” and you can check it out HERE. Ward definitely makes his presence more apparent on this track, but it still hews pretty closely to the sound of the first album. Hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
The full track list for Volume Two comes after the jump.