Good Friday

Yesterday I bought She & Him's Volume One, based solely on a blurb I read at Pitchfork:

Actress Zooey Deschanel and singer-songwriter M. Ward team on a collection of songs that feel like familiar AM radio classics.

Vanity projects often come across as such. I'm always skeptical and intrigued when an artist from one medium decides to give it a go in another. I knew little of Zooey Deschanel outside of her filmography until I read an article in Stop Smiling magazine. The issue focused on Hollywood, past and present. Zooey and her father, Caleb (himself a respected cinematographer who lensed The Slugger's Wife and The Passion of the Christ among others) discussed upbringing and family ties. It was a good read and shed light on Zooey's celebrity influence (her actress mother Mary Jo had a reoccurring role on David Lynch's Twin Peaks.). This coupled with "familiar AM radio classics" was enough for me to commit.

Although songwriter Deschanel and guitarist Matt Ward offer 10 original compositions, the album does indeed feel familiar, in a warm and comforting manner. The opener, 'Sentimental Heart', sounds something Beatle-esque with gliding strings built on barren keys. The sound maintains, then devolves into bleak, pop-country. A good thing in this case.

Later they cover Lennon and McCartney's "I Should Have Known Better"and Smokey Robinson's "You Really Got a Hold on Me" - both to somberly regret. Zooey closes the album with the traditional, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." Her voice sounds like sobering final acceptance of a love complete.