SHE & HIM - Volume Two

After hearing Zooey Deschanel’s end-titles duet with Leon Redbone in the Christmas comedy Elf, I hoped to hear more from her. More fool me, then, for missing the boat when she debuted She & Him, her project co-piloted by M. Ward. The attention (or lack thereof) that she receives thanks to her celebrity sadly obscures the fact that Deschanel is a charming stylist who mines the past much in the way Pete Molinari does with his slavish but unquestionably sincere devotion to the '50s and '60s. Not that She & Him eschew modern digital production, but the simplicity and directness of the songwriting and arrangements keeps things decidedly Brill Building and, at times, aims for the countrypolitan sound of '60s Nashville (just check the faithful cover of Skeeter Davis’ “Gonna Get Along Without You Now” for proof of this). Sweet stuff!