More She & Him

Last year I rhapsodized about the duo known as She & Him, which consists of actress Zooey Deschanel and musician and producer M. Ward. They have a new record out, so I picked that up as well as a Christmas album they did three years ago.

The seasonal disc, called A Very She & Him Christmas, is a lovely collection of songs pertaining to Christmas, although completely secular. There are some recognizable standards, such as "The Christmas Waltz,"  "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "Sleigh Ride," "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," "Silver Bells," and The Beach Boys' "Little Saint Nick."

There's nothing terribly daring about the arrangements. I was struck by the gender reversal in "Baby, It's Cold Outside," which is normally sung as the man wanting the woman to stay, but this time it's Deschanel imploring Ward not to head out in the cold. There's a nice version of "Blue Christmas" with only a ukulele as accompaniment.

The new album is She & Him Classics. Both of these albums deny us the wonderful songwriting of Deschanel, but she wraps her lips around some old standards and some of them are terrific. I particularly liked her "It's Not For Me to Say" and "Unchained Melody." Ward gets into the act with his own solo, Charles Aznavour's "She." Ward has a raspy voice like an old New Orleans' jazz musician, but it fits with Deschanel's voice and his solo here is surprisingly good.

The album ends with the old World War II chestnut, "We'll Meet Again," which I've been hearing all over the place. It ends the film Dr. Strangelove, which I just watched again, and was the song Stephen Colbert chose to end his show.

Both of these albums are nice, safe music that your grandparents would like. I think the term that used to be used for this style is easy listening, and reminds me of hi-fi sets that were built into TV sets. And that's not a bad thing, as long as Deschanel is singing. Hopefully she'll have some new songs for their next effort.