Rocktrospectiva: The Emotional "Volume 2" Turns 15

Released on 17 March 2010 "Volume Two" was the second studio album by She & Him, a collaboration between M. Ward and singer/songwriter and actress Zooey Deschanel. The album spawned three singles "In The Sun", "Thieves" & "I Put A Spell On You".

Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward refine and improve their sound, creating a sequel that actually improves on the original. Volume Two picks up almost exactly where Volume One left off, with Deschanel still playing a smart, sensitive young woman often on the unrequited end of love but never letting romantic disappointment get her down. She's still the headstrong heroine, and Ward remains content to cede her the spotlight, toiling behind the camera. He dresses her songs in deceptively simple SoCal folk rock, dusty cowboy-trail country music, and crisp Brill Building pop.

On the sequel, Deschanel seems more confident as a singer, songwriter, and vocal arranger. She still has more personality than range, but has learned to maneuver around the parts she can't nail in order to sell them. Transforming herself into her own version of the Watson Twins, Deschanel often backs up herself and channels 1960s country gold classics on the languid "Me and You" and the plaintive "Brand New Shoes", pointing to older styles but never sounding beholden to the past. Her ah-has and mm-hmms make her cover of Skeeter Davis' "Gonna Get Along Without You Now" sound impossibly perky, as if she's lighter for having dumped that creep, and on closer "If You Can't Sleep", Ward layers her humming into a gentle orchestra.

 

If Volume One seemed a bit compartmentalized, each song working one idea or genre, Volume Two sounds much more synthesized as Ward mixes so many styles into each song. It never plays like an M. Ward album, though, as he tailors the music to fit her deceptively simple songs. As Deschanel fashions a romantic metaphor out of the myth of Orpheus, Ward adds some Beach Boys orchestration to reinforce that sense of longing, that rolling snare suggesting a slow, painful look backwards. An unlikely protégé of Owen Bradley, Ward adds countrypolitan strings to many of these songs, but never crowds her vocals or steps on her lines. 

Even as they look to the past for inspiration specifically, to some never-was heyday of 60s radio, they aren't making a period piece on Volume Two. What makes the album so distinctive isn't just the sound of her voice, the quality of her songwriting, or even the resourcefulness of his arrangements, but their joint insistence that these old sounds have as much to say nowadays as they ever did. In that regard, She & Him has given Deschanel her best role yet, one that shows off her charm and intelligence to best effect-- one that she is essentially writing for herself.

The album received positive reviews, because it was more confection than confessional, but it's a kind-natured one; the audio equivalent of a spring breeze that wafts in at a perfect time. Over the course of the 13 tracks there are a number of gems, while all of the songs are expertly crafted by Deschanel and effortlessly captured by Ward...The covers are also dealt with expertly and fit the overall mood of the album, which has a glistening summery – and occasionally jaunty – feel to it. The sweetness might not be to everyone's taste though, particularly as on initial listens some tracks can appear somewhat samey.

 

Volume Two Track List: 

 

1. Thieves

2. In The Sun

3. Don't Look Back

4. Ridin' In My Car

5. Lingering Still

6. Me And You

7. Gonna Get Along Without You Now

8. Home

9. I'm Gonna Make It Better

10. Sing

11. Over It Over Again

12. Brand New Shoes

13. If You Can't Sleep