(Courtesy of Merge Records.)"Think of all the beauty that you've left behind you."
~ She & Him
She & Him clearly have. That line is a direct quote from “This Is Not A Test”, the third song off their remarkable debut album Volume One, and provides an explanation as to why these twelve songs sound like they were made in 1965 rather than 2008. Indeed, Matt Ward, the producer and the male half of She & Him, readily confessed in a recent Pitchfork interview that “[his] greatest inspiration has always been older records”.
So yes, first and foremost, this record is an exercise in nostalgia, from a time before either She (Zooey Deschanel) or Him (Matt Ward) were born. This doesn’t bother me in the slightest. Being a fan of Oasis, I’ve never given much credence to the philosophy that music has to be innovative to be worthwhile. Still, all you lovers of knob-twiddling electronica or melody-deprived noise rock supposedly engendering the future of music should probably leave the room.
Volume One gets it right straight from the opening. “Sentimental Heart” begins modestly with only a piano accompanying Ms. Deschanel’s tender and innocent vocals, yet by the end of it, her voice is soaring and strings have come in to lift the tune up to the heavens. The next four songs are all highlights as well, with “This Is Not A Test” being the album’s standout track. It brings to mind great mid-60’s songs like The Kinks’ “Waterloo Sunset” or The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows”, and comes within spitting distance of matching them. It’s readily apparent when listening to “This Is Not A Test” that Zooey Deschanel is a singer who possesses not only a great set of pipes but also distinct character. However, it’s her ability to write memorable and contemporary sounding melodies like the best on Volume One that will set her apart from the current pack of female indie darlings.
Regrettably, and perhaps naturally, this debut album does have some flaws. The most notable of these is Track 11, where She & Him take The Beatles’ “I Should Have Known Better” on a trip to Hawaii and forget to pack all the things that made the original such a great song in the first place (Lennon’s harmonica intro, Ringo’s swinging drums and, uh, the tempo). But then, covering classics is always a dodgy proposition for an artist. She & Him fare much better with their own compositions, such as with their closer “Sweet Darlin’”, which takes a simple chorus, pairs it with sublime production and confident lyrics and winds up being a hell of a finale. It’s a shame they deflated its effect somewhat with an ‘untitled’ bonus track (which is really just a thoroughly bewildering cover of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”).
But when taken as a whole, Volume One is a very tight and well-sequenced album, and even if most of the tracks don’t reach the heights of their best songs (“This Is Not A Test”, “Sweet Darlin’”), at least they don’t detract from the 60’s vibe that is so believably conjured here. And, perhaps most importantly, it leaves me looking forward to Volume Two.
So yes, first and foremost, this record is an exercise in nostalgia, from a time before either She (Zooey Deschanel) or Him (Matt Ward) were born. This doesn’t bother me in the slightest. Being a fan of Oasis, I’ve never given much credence to the philosophy that music has to be innovative to be worthwhile. Still, all you lovers of knob-twiddling electronica or melody-deprived noise rock supposedly engendering the future of music should probably leave the room.
Volume One gets it right straight from the opening. “Sentimental Heart” begins modestly with only a piano accompanying Ms. Deschanel’s tender and innocent vocals, yet by the end of it, her voice is soaring and strings have come in to lift the tune up to the heavens. The next four songs are all highlights as well, with “This Is Not A Test” being the album’s standout track. It brings to mind great mid-60’s songs like The Kinks’ “Waterloo Sunset” or The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows”, and comes within spitting distance of matching them. It’s readily apparent when listening to “This Is Not A Test” that Zooey Deschanel is a singer who possesses not only a great set of pipes but also distinct character. However, it’s her ability to write memorable and contemporary sounding melodies like the best on Volume One that will set her apart from the current pack of female indie darlings.
Regrettably, and perhaps naturally, this debut album does have some flaws. The most notable of these is Track 11, where She & Him take The Beatles’ “I Should Have Known Better” on a trip to Hawaii and forget to pack all the things that made the original such a great song in the first place (Lennon’s harmonica intro, Ringo’s swinging drums and, uh, the tempo). But then, covering classics is always a dodgy proposition for an artist. She & Him fare much better with their own compositions, such as with their closer “Sweet Darlin’”, which takes a simple chorus, pairs it with sublime production and confident lyrics and winds up being a hell of a finale. It’s a shame they deflated its effect somewhat with an ‘untitled’ bonus track (which is really just a thoroughly bewildering cover of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”).
But when taken as a whole, Volume One is a very tight and well-sequenced album, and even if most of the tracks don’t reach the heights of their best songs (“This Is Not A Test”, “Sweet Darlin’”), at least they don’t detract from the 60’s vibe that is so believably conjured here. And, perhaps most importantly, it leaves me looking forward to Volume Two.
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