There’s a warmth in the sad, measured gallop of “Thieves,” the first song off of She & Him’s Volume Two, and it’s undeniably charming. The final swell of amber guitars, strings and voice beams straight to the chest, lights it up like a summer sunset.
But She (actress Zooey Deschanel) and Him (folkster M. Ward) stubbornly park their feel-good cabooses in that light for the duration of the record, and it’s not long till the sunset loses its magic. After another 40 minutes without relief, the sunset is just boring. Too much milk and honey.
Thank Ms. Deschanel, Volume Two’s resolute playwright and inescapable host. Her face, framed in gently arranged bangs and big Bambi eyes, is familiar – the actress starred in “500 Days of Summer,” “Yes Man,” and a television commercial for cotton, of all things.
Volume Two feeds on this puppy-dog routine. One imagines Ms. Deschanel in a perpetual curtsy during these recording sessions. Most every song revels in ‘60s-inflected baroque pop, all of them written for the whir of bicycle spokes in the summery montage of another twee film about two irresistibly whimsical white people.
After three-and-a-half songs of Ms. Deschanel, center stage, in waltzes M. Ward, his voice a watery BBQ sauce (organic and reduced-calorie, naturally), only to retreat backstage for the entire second act. The arrangements, though, are undeniably his: hear those feathery snare drums and polite lap steels, nestled snugly in a bed of charming doo-wop harmonies? Have you yet enjoyed the sound of ‘cute’?
You have now, and you’d better like it, buddy, because this is the Zooey Deschanel Hour, and your radio dial is stuck on this godforsaken AM frequency for a long, long 13 songs.
“I had some brand new shoes, they were all red but they gave me the blues,” she whispers near Volume Two’s end. This, of course, is the part of the story when, after being wronged by her man, she wonders whether she can forgive him.
Somehow, some way, she does, and it all turns out peaches, just as everyone suspected it would. “I didn’t mean to,” a chorus of Zooeys sings sweetly in “Over It Over Again,” fooling no one.
So I’ve been sitting on this information for over a month now and I don’t know why I waited until now to spread the love. So without further ado, here it is: Jim James, Conor Oberst, and M. Ward have announced via Rolling Stone interview that they will be heading into the studio to record an album together. Now that I just typed it out for you all to read, it just feels too good to be true for some reason. Maybe that is why I wasn’t super eager to share it with you all immediately. Although I really hope that it will come to fruition and give me a chance to make up for missing the show when the trio toured together back in 2004, calling themselves the “Monsters of Folk.” Fortunately for us though, even if the album never happens or ends up being years in the making, each of these guys have been very busy this year to bring us something to hold us over.
Jim James and his alt-country band My Morning Jacket released their fifth studio album, Evil Urges earlier this summer. I haven’t had the chance to get my hands on the whole album yet. But everything I’ve heard is innovative to say the least. It’s different but great. And from what I hear, their live show is not something to be missed.
On the contrary Oberst has left his alt-country band behind and released a new solo effort? Yeah I don’t know if that is exactly true. Because Bright Eyes was basically a solo project already. So now with a not so new sound he is recording as Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band. Here is a great acoustic track off of the self-titled album that was just released this August.
So as for our good friend M. Ward, he has teamed up with actress Zooey Deschanel(Elf) to form the indie-pop duo She & Him. She has such and lovely and playful and inviting voice. And apparently she is a fantastic songwriter as well. I just assumed that with Ward’s talent that he would end up writing all the songs for the project, but he didn’t write a one. I really hope that the title of their oh so catchy spring release is signifying that we should expect more albums from the duo to come in the future. Well here is a glimpse of the charming and light-hearted She & Him.
There’s a warmth in the sad, measured gallop of “Thieves,” the first song off of She & Him’s Volume Two, and it’s undeniably charming. The final swell of amber guitars, strings and voice beams straight to the chest, lights it up like a summer sunset.
