She & Him - Volume Two

Zooey Deschanel isn’t exactly unpredictable. We heard it back in the day in “Elf,” again this year in “(500) Days of Summer,” and with M. Ward in ’08. It is her vocal style – timeless, saccharine-sweet, and void of any of that whiney crap you get with almost every female pop star today (Miley, we’re talking to you). Combine the Hollywood starlet with M. Ward, one of the most talented songwriters and producers around, and you have She & Him. Their combination is as winning this time as it was on their debut, Volume One. The second volume can be summed up with “Over and Over Again,” a charming 60’s girl group tune with “ooh la la la” back-up vocals, innocent piano plunking, and a beat built for cutesy side choreography. Deschanel’s no Diana Ross, but the Supremes would have loved this song. Ward and Deschanel’s “Gonna Get Along Without You Now,” a Skeeter Davis cover, is an instant classic. The duo reach their cuteness quota on “Lingering Still,” a terrifying beach vacation number with so much pedal steel that you won’t be able to hold down your pina colada. Still, this album is an absolute gem – the kind of record you’ll smile through “over and over again.”