Monday, May 26, 2008
Quit Your Day Job!
What a glorious valentine to 60s pop - imagine Dusty Springfield in Motown produced by Phil Spector. I'm in love with the surprise treat that is 'Volume One,' the luminous, shimmering debut from She & Him, who provide today's SOTW, 'Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?. David gave me this album a month ago and it's slowly won me over, song by song.
This masterpiece serves some of its gems in a wall of sound, and others with near-acoustic intimacy, a cheerful musical phone call that you know is long distance but sounds like it's in the same room as you....
Anybody who sings, performs, and writes music this well probably shouldn't waste much time acting, in my humble opinion. She & Him are actress Zooey Deschanel and M. (Matt) Ward, her pal from their native Portland OR - Zooey sings and plays piano and banjo while Matt provides guitar and production.
Two album tracks are lovely unplugged honky-tonk remakes of 60s classics, the Beatles' 'I Should Have Known Better' and Smokey Robinson's 'You Really Got A Hold On Me.'
Of course, I haven't seen any major screen work of Zooey Deschanel, the 'She' in 'She & Him,' and don't remember her celebrated bit parts in either 'Mumford' or 'Almost Famous.' But below, after the video clips, are some excerpts of her screen work...
No video clips from this group yet... but here's a fan clip of irresistible single 'Sweet Darlin'... this song feels like 4-year-old Aaron riding in the back of his parents' car... It was co-written by fellow actor/musician Jason Schwartzman
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