She and Him: Volume One

She and Him: Volume One Actress Zooey Deschanel releases her first musical experiment by teaming up with renowned musician M Ward to form She and Him. We've heard Zooey Deschanel before, remember that scene in Elf? But this is completely different, she's not singing Christmas carols, she's singing lush indie pop songs. She also plays piano and banjo on the record. The other side of the She and Him equation is M Ward. He plays guitar and does all the production which includes orchestra sounding string sections and keyboard loops. The music on the album really runs the gamut. Zooey's voice has such an old quality to it, that the selection of a doo-wop tune "I Was Made For You" is a natural fit. There's also a Patsy Cline-esque country ballad "You Really Got a Hold on Me". For the most part the album hovers in the alt-country genre. I've never been a big M Ward fan but this album feels nothing like an M Ward record. This seems like the kind of record Zooey Deschanel could have made all by herself. M Ward's production does add a certain "je ne sais pas" to the record, but its nothing that any other skilled producer couldn't have done. There's a certain lag that a good portion of the album has. It's that country meandering feeling, that I hate but Zooey's voice covers up fairly well. At some points it gets to be a little too much and I find myself reaching to change the song. Rating: 6.5/10 MP3: She and Him "I Was Made For You"