She & Him
May08, music reviews, music May 25th, 2008
By Fred Sowder, May 2008
Volume One, Merge
Singer-songwriter M. Ward had a grand idea: form a group with actress Zooey Deschanel and record songs that recall the best of the Tin Pan Alley and Brill Building eras of the early- and mid-20th century. Ward knows good voices when he hears them. After working with the likes of Norah Jones and Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis, Matt Ward saw the vocal potential in this actress who had memorable roles in everything from Mumford to Elf.
College radio favorite “Sentimental Heart” is a torch song for the ages, with Ward’s classic arrangement complementing Deschanel’s vocals well. “This is Not a Test,” recalls the cheekier moments of Grace Slick or even Dusty Springfield. She then gets her Patsy Cline on with “Change is Hard,” with no small thanks to Ward’s lonesome pedal steel guitar. The plaintive “I Thought I Saw Your Face Today” owes a nod to the likes of Carly Simon and Carole King.
The covers are also well represented from multiple genres. Ward adds some lonesome backing vocals to the Miracles’ “You Really Got a Hold on Me.” The Fab Four’s “I Should Have Known Better” is transported to the South Pacific in the form of a mellow slack key jam. The standard “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” is largely a cappella, with Deschanel’s voice filtered through a transistor radio deep in the postwar South.
While Ward may have reinvented Deschanel as an indie rocker’s crooning dream girl, what is perhaps the most disturbing about this album is its desire to be everything to everyone. The drastic vocal stylings that Deschanel adopts from song to song tend to leave one with a schizophrenic feeling. That’s not to say that Volume One is a tough listen – the songs flow together well and Ward does a fine job on arrangements that would probably get props from Phil Spector. This is just not a disc to throw on to capture a mood. Its feelings are loud and across the board. If anything, it’s a fine collection of touchstones to some of the greatest popular music of the last century.
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She & Him
May08, music reviews, music May 25th, 2008By Fred Sowder, May 2008
Volume One, Merge
Singer-songwriter M. Ward had a grand idea: form a group with actress Zooey Deschanel and record songs that recall the best of the Tin Pan Alley and Brill Building eras of the early- and mid-20th century. Ward knows good voices when he hears them. After working with the likes of Norah Jones and Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis, Matt Ward saw the vocal potential in this actress who had memorable roles in everything from Mumford to Elf.
College radio favorite “Sentimental Heart” is a torch song for the ages, with Ward’s classic arrangement complementing Deschanel’s vocals well. “This is Not a Test,” recalls the cheekier moments of Grace Slick or even Dusty Springfield. She then gets her Patsy Cline on with “Change is Hard,” with no small thanks to Ward’s lonesome pedal steel guitar. The plaintive “I Thought I Saw Your Face Today” owes a nod to the likes of Carly Simon and Carole King.
The covers are also well represented from multiple genres. Ward adds some lonesome backing vocals to the Miracles’ “You Really Got a Hold on Me.” The Fab Four’s “I Should Have Known Better” is transported to the South Pacific in the form of a mellow slack key jam. The standard “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” is largely a cappella, with Deschanel’s voice filtered through a transistor radio deep in the postwar South.
While Ward may have reinvented Deschanel as an indie rocker’s crooning dream girl, what is perhaps the most disturbing about this album is its desire to be everything to everyone. The drastic vocal stylings that Deschanel adopts from song to song tend to leave one with a schizophrenic feeling. That’s not to say that Volume One is a tough listen – the songs flow together well and Ward does a fine job on arrangements that would probably get props from Phil Spector. This is just not a disc to throw on to capture a mood. Its feelings are loud and across the board. If anything, it’s a fine collection of touchstones to some of the greatest popular music of the last century.
Leave a Reply
She & Him
May08, music reviews, music May 25th, 2008By Fred Sowder, May 2008
Volume One, Merge
Singer-songwriter M. Ward had a grand idea: form a group with actress Zooey Deschanel and record songs that recall the best of the Tin Pan Alley and Brill Building eras of the early- and mid-20th century. Ward knows good voices when he hears them. After working with the likes of Norah Jones and Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis, Matt Ward saw the vocal potential in this actress who had memorable roles in everything from Mumford to Elf.
College radio favorite “Sentimental Heart” is a torch song for the ages, with Ward’s classic arrangement complementing Deschanel’s vocals well. “This is Not a Test,” recalls the cheekier moments of Grace Slick or even Dusty Springfield. She then gets her Patsy Cline on with “Change is Hard,” with no small thanks to Ward’s lonesome pedal steel guitar. The plaintive “I Thought I Saw Your Face Today” owes a nod to the likes of Carly Simon and Carole King.
The covers are also well represented from multiple genres. Ward adds some lonesome backing vocals to the Miracles’ “You Really Got a Hold on Me.” The Fab Four’s “I Should Have Known Better” is transported to the South Pacific in the form of a mellow slack key jam. The standard “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” is largely a cappella, with Deschanel’s voice filtered through a transistor radio deep in the postwar South.
While Ward may have reinvented Deschanel as an indie rocker’s crooning dream girl, what is perhaps the most disturbing about this album is its desire to be everything to everyone. The drastic vocal stylings that Deschanel adopts from song to song tend to leave one with a schizophrenic feeling. That’s not to say that Volume One is a tough listen – the songs flow together well and Ward does a fine job on arrangements that would probably get props from Phil Spector. This is just not a disc to throw on to capture a mood. Its feelings are loud and across the board. If anything, it’s a fine collection of touchstones to some of the greatest popular music of the last century.
