The Artists in Profile: She and Him

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Actors moving on to the music business is in no way a new idea, however it's an incredibly hazardous one. For every intriguing project involving Scarlett Johansson singing Tom Waits songs there lies a Bruce Willis band, or a Shaquille O'Neal hip-hop record. Credence is clearly lent to the project when, in the case of the Ghost World alum, an established name in music backs the project so it was intriguing when She (mid-level actress whose credits include Almost Famous, Elf, and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and Him (critically acclaimed musician much in demand in today's indie scene) ultimately paired off.

Zooey Deschanel came from an acting background - the daughter of an actress and an Oscar-nominated cinematographer - while Matt Ward is currently one of the most respected and sought after modern musicians in indie-rock and whose 2006 effort Post War was widely acclaimed by fans, critics, and Newsvine columnists alike. The duo met while making the film The Go-Getter with Deschanel co-starring and Ward writing the score. The two were asked to sing a duet for the end credits and as Ward said in a 2008 interview with Under the Radar magazine, "We went to a studio in Eagle Rock and recorded that. We had a really great time and Zooey sent me some demos that she had been doing."

"I had been making demos for a really long time, just sort of in the middle of the night, writing music and recording whenever I had a spare minute... so I was kind of shy about it," Deschanel said. She later continued, "But if you never try, then you never know if something works out. So I was just like, 'Well, I know that I'm sincere when I write music and that it's genuine and I can stand by them for myself. So, if I can do that, then I can send them to Matt, and he can just be honest about it."

Discovering they had similar musical tastes and worked well together, they decided to put Deschanel's songs to plastic.

The subsequent album, titled Volume One, drops next week on Merge records and looks to be one of the more pleasant releases of the young 2008. Deschanel shares Ward's penchant for old sounds and old records and it shows in their music. At times peppy alt-country and at others 50s dream-pop the songs are steeped in timeless sounds that have been given a cheeky, playful face-lift.

It includes 9 songs penned by Deschanel and two covers: The Beatles' "I Should Have Known Better" and the hit Smokey Robinson wrote for the Miracles "You Really Got a Hold on Me." On the album's 11 songs Ward's ambient yet driving guitar strums are almost as immediately identifiable as the disaffected, slightly coy, unpolished and unpretentious vocalizations that Deschanel brings to both screen and stereo. Though her vocal is occasionally tentative it's also endearing and when it's on - as on bubblegum pop track "I Was Made for You" or country love song "Sweet Darlin'" - it's compelling and evocative.

She and Him's debut effort looks to be a playful and lighthearted addition to 2008's roster of releases - doubters can listen to the bridge of "This is Not a Test" wherein what sounds like a kazoo is actually Deschanel making trumpet sounds with her mouth - and anyone looking for some airy spring tunes would do well to check Volume One out.

This article cross-posted from the new ListenInMusic.com.

© Eric Atienza 2008 for Listen In Some rights reserved.

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