Whenever I attempt to clean out my iTunes music library, I'm never that successful. I only manage to get rid of the songs I truly hate, while the ones I simply never listen to manage to hold on for a few more weeks until the next time I decide to cleanse my musical chi. I'm pretty sure that at some point in my life I'll miraculously have the respect of all movie directors and producers who will need my extensive and random music library and will be grateful that I'm a packrat with my music. She & Him's Volume One, for example, is bound to come in handy one day for some independent film or a deliciously random mood.
The duo is comprised of musician/producer M. Ward and actress-turned-singer Zooey Deschanel. Those unfamiliar with Deschanel may recognize her as Will Ferrell's love interest in Elf, Sarah Jessica Parker's kooky roommate in Failure to Launch or (my personal favorite) Tricia McMillan in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. We had a sampling of her unique voice in Elf, and with Volume One she sheds the Christmas carols and dons a more serious role on the March 18 release.
Volume One isn't at all what anyone would expect it to be. When we think "indie" these days, we imagine some sort of Death Cab for Cutie, Bright Eyes, Plain White T's mixture with lyrics so metaphorical we feel like all inanimate objects symbolize lost love. She & Him's lyrics and sound, however, are anything but complex. The album opener, "Sentimental Heart," is probably my favorite song on Volume One, and its lyrics are a pretty good example of what is in store for the rest of the album. Deschanel sings in the chorus, "Old habits die hard / When you got, when you got a sentimental heart / Piece of the puzzle, you're my missing part / Oh, what can you do with a sentimental heart?" These simple lyrics paired with just Deschanel's vocals, a piano and a couple stringed instruments playing nothing too difficult make this song pretty bare. For some reason, though, its simplicity isn't boring, but modest and charming.
The problem with this album is that I really can't find anything I love or hate. "Sentimental Heart" puts a smile on my face, "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?" is cute and "You Really Got a Hold On Me" (one of the songs M. Ward makes a vocal appearance in) is delectably mellow. "I Should Have Known Better," a cover of The Beatles' single, is unremarkable, but not enough to detract from the quality of the album.
Basically, I don't love it but I don't hate it. It has a refreshing simplicity that makes day-to-day life seem not so tedious and unimportant --a live-in-the-moment message of sorts.
Many moons from now when I find myself in a room with a movie production team I will pull out this album.
"Who is She & Him?" the movie director will ask.
"Well, they're a pretty obscure indie band that never really got popular but they'd be perfect for that scene where your two main characters are driving in a retro pickup truck through some Midwestern desert landscape."
"Really? What do they sound like?"
"Hmmm, they've got kind of an old-school Patsy Cline or Emmylou Harris sound that's perfect for that scene where you're panning through a small town county fair that is filled with Ferris wheels and funnel cakes."
Moral of the story: This album isn't an essential buy, but it'll be pretty great for those times when you're in need of a randomly pretty good band, with or without a movie production team that's hanging on your every word. 3
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