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What began as a fun little collaboration between the L.A.-stationed actress Zooey Deschanel and Portland, OR–based songbird M. Ward has evolved into a lush and layered musical marriage of talents that is as subtle and classy as an old leather couch.
She & Him’s Volume Two opens with the surefooted, rock-kicking “Thieves,” where Deschanel let’s the engine of her vocal range rev singing bittersweet lyrics like, “And I know/And you know too/That love like ours is terrible news.” The vintage country/folk feel of the album rolls from one song to the next, scraping out nuanced details from the corners of each verse before building to the staggeringly beautiful “Brand New Shoes” and “If You Can’t Sleep.” In the former, Deschanel’s vocals are layered in such a way that she punctuates her own sentences with background “mmms,” and sings, “It’s just like you told me it’d be/It’s nuthin’ nuthin’ nuthin’ at all.” Um, but it is something, Zooey. It’s super, super pretty.
