Today I picked up “Volume One,” the first album (of several?) from She & Him.  It’s a collaboration between a guy who calls himself M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel.  I’m listening through for the first time right now, and I’m really digging it so far.

You’ll know Deschanel if you’ve seen “Almost Famous,” “Elf,” or the recent Sci-Fi channel miniseries “Tinman.”  I gotta admit, I’m a sucker for her.  Have been since “Almost Famous.”  She has incredible eyes, and is just an all-around cutie.  And funny to boot.  So I’m a little biased, but she has a nice voice.  She isn’t famous enough to be able to get a record deal just because her name will move copies.  She doesn’t try to do anything crazy with it, and it goes well with the pouring-my-heart-out songs on the album.  It’s a mix of covers and original stuff.  Her writing holds up well from what I’ve heard so far; well-worn territory, to be sure, but it still sounds good.  They’re the kind of songs that make you wish that you could help her get over the feelings that led her to write them, especially with lines like “I’m alone on a bicycle for two.”*  But again, this may be because I can picture her singing them to me, with those big blue eyes filled to the brim with unrequited love.  The album is a bit of a throwback, sort of a mix between 60’s girl group and country.  I’m trying to listen to more country music (older country and bluegrass, that is).  It’s one of the only forms of American that I haven’t really explored, but recently I’ve developed a weakness for anything with slide or steel guitar.  It probably began with the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss album this past fall (definitely my favorite purchase from last year).  And there’s a good bit of that here.  I hope that we get to hear “Volume Two” soon.

*I wonder if she knows that these are called tandems?  She probably does; “alone on a tandem” just doesn’t work quite as well.