She & Him, Volume Two (Merge Records, 2010)

Singer/pianist Zooey Deschanel and multi-instrumentalist/producer M. Ward first paired up as She & Him in 2008. Volume One was a pleasant, well-received collection of songs heavily rooted in the American side of the pop music of the early sixties. Deschannel may not have a superior voice, but the same endearing qualities that work for her as an actress also work for her as a singer. Now Deschanel and Ward are back with Volume Two which, for better or worse, is nearly identical to its predecessor.

On one hand, She & Him demonstrate that there's enough substance to the style of female-centered pop songs of the early to mid sixties (think Phil Specter's production and Carole King's songwriting) that the approach can be embraced nearly fifty years later and still sound fresh. If anything, their sound is a welcome alternative to the more electronic and less innocent songs that have dominated the pop charts for a while. Having said that, though, Volume Two will sound a little too familiar to anybody who's heard Volume One. Deschanel's songs all have a catchy charm to them, but they blend together after a while. Nothing on Volume Two really stuck with me.

Volume Two is a nice enough record. I suppose people who really enjoyed She & Him's first record will like this as well, even if they know exactly what to expect. Safe predictability isn't always a good thing, though.

Overall grade: B-

reviewed by Scott

"In The Sun"

(500) DAYS OF SUMMER

Perhaps the summer's one non-romantic comedy, (500) Days of Summer is a smart, humorous, and pretty realistic look at the ups and downs of a couple's relationship. And the path of the couple is far from linear.

Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a young adult who wanted to be an architect but wound up writing greeting cards. He's also something of a hopeless romantic, so it's no surprise that he falls form Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel), an assistant at Tom's office. She's adorable, intelligent, likes several of the same things as Tom -- and she doesn't believe in love or want a commitment. As the narrator tells us early on, "This is a boy meets girl story. It is not a love story."

(500) Days of Summer is framed by a picture and a counter. The counter skips forward and back to times in Tom and Summer's relationship, while the brightness of the background and state of the tree reflect how well or poorly things are going. This could have been a cheap gimmick, but it works well as we how things progress and change.

The movie is a guy's movie -- the focus is on Tom, not Summer -- yet it's surprisingly balanced. Tom can be a jerk, several people ovserve that Summer told him what she didn't want, and despite several guy friends helping or consoling Tom, the best advice he gets comes from Rachel (Chloe Moretz), Tom's sister who is still in grammar school. The relationship between Tom and Summer feels real, from the early highs (signing karaoke, playing house in Ikea, Tom's euphoric walk to work turning into a musical number) to crushing lows (long silences, misunderstandings, expectations contrasted with reality (through a split-screen scene)).

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is terrific, as always, and Zooey Deschanel matches him well as Summer, the woman who is on a very different wavelength from Tom that he refuses to see. Director Marc Webb treats both sides of this couple evenly, resulting in a smart comedy where, ultimately, no one is to blame. (500) Days of Summer is a step above most cookie-cutter romantic comedies.

Overall grade: B+
Reviewed by James Lynch

She & Him, Volume One (Merge Records, 2008)

"She" is actress Zooey Deschanel, a rising star in Hollywood currently serving as the female lead in Yes Man. "Him" is M. Ward, a multi-instrumentallist and producer from Portland, Oregon. Together, She & Him have released an album called Volume One which, according to the good people at Paste Magazine, was chosen as this year's best album.

Of the thirteen songs on Volume One, nine were written by Deschanel and one was co-written by her. I'd describe Deschanel's songwriting style as being one part Carole King, one part Patsy Cline, and several parts sixties girl groups. It's rare for established movie stars to successfully pull off a side career in music (i.e., do something that's actually good), and it's even rarer when they succeed as songwriters to the degree that Deschanel does on this album. If this were the mid-sixties she'd be a highly regarded hit maker, with charming pop songs like "This Is Not a Test," "I Was Made for You," and "Sweet Darlin'." The catch, though, is that her vocals aren't really all that strong, especially on the ballads. The album's one really good vocal performance comes, ironically, on a cover of Smokey Robinson's "You Really Got a Hold on Me."

While Volume One is generally categorized as alternative or "indie," there's not actually anything about the sound of the album that's cutting edge. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, of course, and if you're a big fan of sixties pop music you'll probably like this album a lot. But I'm starting to notice a significant trend among indie performers to go retro, whether they're making albums like this one or the one I just reviewed by The Submarines, or engaging in the more extreme act of covering an entire album like Meet the Smithereens! did last year. This trend has some strengths and weaknesses. On one hand, some old styles still have plenty to offer, as She & Him show on this album. Many older songs are also worth preserving and bringing back to people's attention; I'll be talking about this more when I review (hopefully in a day or two) Dion's latest album. A good song is a good song, after all, regardless of how old the song or the style may be.

On the other hand, I'm a bit leery of showering too much of a reward on something that's not really original. Volume One has some fun songs, and something tells me we're going to be hearing a lot from Zooey Deschanel on multiple fronts over the next few years if not beyond. But I wouldn't call the album a revelation, either, just a nice record featuring an emerging performer with a broad range of talents.

Overall grade: B+

reviewed by Scott

for the video of "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?," click here.