Posts Tagged ‘Zooey Deschanel’
Album Review: She & Him – Volume Two
As you may or may not already know, as well as being Hollywood’s go-to kooky girl, Zooey Deschanel is also a pretty talented musician. After the promise shown on debut ‘Volume 1′, Deschanel and her collaborator Matthew Ward have toned down the 60’s pop sensibilities and streamlined their sound into something significantly more contemporary, but without losing the nostalgic charm of that first record.
Upon first listen, the most striking element of the record is Deschanel’s voice – restrained and sweet for the most part, making her soaring detours on the likes of opener ‘Thieves’ seem all the more overwhelming. Whilst the accompanying instrumentation is brilliantly arranged, it is undoubtedly the vocal performance that will draw the most plaudits. Couple that with her knack for those sickly-tender lyrical sentiments, and you’ve got yourself, at the very least, one of the best guilty pleasure records in recent memory.
The immediacy of ‘Volume Two’, thanks largely to some cracking hooks, is its secret weapon. The likes of ‘Don’t Look Back’ and ‘Lingering Still’ will worm their way into your skull with their simplicity, as well as adding a spring to your step on a sunny day. If all this sounds a little cutesy, then that’s because it is; and sometimes it can get a little too much to bear. Whilst there isn’t really a bad track on the album, you can’t help but feel that it has overstayed its welcome after the annoyingly catchy ‘Over it Over Again’ is swinging through its final chorus.
If I can offer a very base analogy, this record is the aural equivalent to a big bowl of ice cream: sweet and refreshing on a hot day, but eat too much and you’ll end up feeling a little queasy. Overall, however, it’s difficult to say mean things about an album with such an unbridled sense of whimsy, so I’ll recommend you check this out, if only for a smooth summer soundtrack.
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
More New She & Him
Whenever I’m about to write the band name “She & Him,” I always have to stop and ask myself whether they use the word “and” or the ampersand symbol (&). It’s the ampersand symbol, but it still gets me every time. Damn you, grammatical symbols!
Anyways, the important news about the band is that they’ve just released another new song from their upcoming album, Volume Two (or is it “II”? Frick!) which is set to be released on March 23.
The song, “Thieves,” is the album’s opening track. It’s got kind of a The Kinks-Roy Orbison mix vibe going on, but it’s not radically different from what you’ve heard on Volume One. Just another solid slab of heartsick folk rock. You gotta love the way Zooey Deschanel emotes on the line: “Two broken hearts don’t beat / any less”
-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.