Though I readily admit I have a bit of a crush on Zooey Deschanel, I didn’t really take to her foray into music with M. Ward in 2008. Her voice simply didn’t sound strong enough to pull off the sound she seemed to be going for. I was also never really a big M. Ward fan (his music was always a bit too dull for me), but I decided to head over to WNYC today to watch She & Him perform a few songs live in the studio. I came with an open mind, and let me just say that I was pleasantly surprised… not bowled over, but certainly not turned off either.
As the song title suggests, the video of their single “In the Sun” is summer-y and light… kind of the equivalent of a beach read. Sure, Zooey Deschanel is no Laura Marling, but we can’t all be Dostoevsky or Günter Grass either, can we?
So she’s no exactly loquacious (just take a listen to the interview from today’s episode of Soundcheck), but her singing voice was stronger than I thought it would be in a live setting. Oh yeah, and her defense of the grammatical integrity and complexity of their band name is pretty funny.
My big regret is that I didn’t get to ride on the elevator with Zooey. When I was walking out of the studio, for a second she was following me, and I thought we could maybe have a moment. It’s probably for the best though. I don’t think I could have resisted the urge to ask her if she liked the Smiths.
She & Him’s second album, Volume Two, came out last week on Merge.
