Good celebrity band alert: She & Him
Hollywood, as we know from the terminology of the WGA strike, is full of what they call hyphenates: writer-directors, director-producers, writer-director-producer-actor-stuntmen. Multi-talented folks, these. But there’s a particular brand of hyphenate that seems especially risky, especially prone to ridicule (and especially visible outside of the L.A. basin, where people might actually notice): the actor-musician. It sounds like a great idea, right? An all-around performer, like the time when men were men and women were women and all of them could dance, regardless! Offscreen, though, it all becomes a little bit dicey. Remember Keanu Reeves and Dogstar? Do you see where I’m going with this?
But after I stumbled on the New York Times review of Volume One, the debut album from pop-folk duo She & Him—also known as Zooey Deschanel backed by Portland indie guy M. Ward—I knew we were meant to be. Did somebody say “lovely, bittersweet melodies about hook-ups and break-ups”? I love lovely, bittersweet melodies about hook-ups and break-ups! OMG!
Thankfully for all (Times, don’t think I wouldn’t have changed my homepage), the review I read got it right. Deschanel wrote most of the songs, and she comes across as a girl who grew up with the oldies station turned up loud (as I myself did; KFRC, represent!)— someone who really loves pop music, and just happens to have the skills to produce it herself (unlike some others we might name [ahem, Lindsay]). Volume One is eclectic, comprised of lots of modern songs that sound like the past and a few songs that really are from the past (covers of Smokey Robinson’s “You Really Got a Hold on Me” and the Beatles’ “I Should Have Known”). We got a taste of Deschanel’s clear, torchy voice in Elf, and will apparently be hearing more from her in a biopic of Janis Joplin; here she sounds at various points like Linda Ronstadt, Tammy Wynette, Dusty Springfield, and, well, herself, which is probably the point. The album isn’t too pointed and it’s not too ironic; it’s just good, smooth, pleasant music, the kind of thing it’s easy to like, and maybe even to love. Not bad for a hyphenate, no?
She and Him, Zooey Deschanel, M. Ward, celebrity bands
May 2nd, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Hmm. Zooey as a singer? How’s her singing voice? To me her speaking voice is an almost unbearably flat, nasal monotone.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
You know, I hadn’t ever thought of her speaking voice as anything weird, so maybe her singing voice would also bother you, but I think she sounds pretty great, especially in the lower range–very clear and smooth. (Stop by and borrow my iPod anytime!)