So, we meet again. I took a little bit of a break, but it was much needed. This month has left me all of about three and a half minutes to kick back and relax. If you don't know me very well, I have been Danny in our schools production of Grease. For that matter, I still am Danny until Tuesday, but it is finally winding down. And to top it all off, I've been in Nashville half of this week for All-State (a choir of really fruity dudes and really hott girls(and a few normal kids like me) singing my heart out, so I haven't been able to really write a word, but I have gotten a hold of a few new albums that'll give me some good material to tell you about. The first of which being the next album from pseudo-supergroup She and Him, ever so cleverly titled Volume Two, compared to the original Volume One. I'll give you a heads up, this isn't my favorite. And now, I shall tell you about the group.
The group is actually the brain-child of director Martin Hynes, who was filming The Go-Getter which I have never heard of, but now may see because of the subtly beautiful Zooey Deschanel. Seriously, she is hott stuff. And she's intelligent which is all the more appealing. I can go on for a while, but you don't care, so I won't. The director asked Zooey to sing with M. Ward who was lending a hand to the films soundtrack (which looked pretty good). Apparently the group came into high demand, and they later recorded songs that Zooey had secretly written back in her home in Portland. Thus, the world, including myself, was introduced to She and Him, and like a lot of people who heard it, I fell in love with it. The light flowing jingles instill sunny pictures of fields and beaches, love and heart ache, gain and loss; all in an optimistic perspective. So, um, where did that go?
I bought Volume Two, conveying the same optimism Deschanel inoculated me with the first time around, and man was I let down. Gone is the emotion, the jaunty-ness, whatever made it click the last time. In Volume Two, Ward and Deschanel have herded together a collection of happy noises, stretched the songs already wide smiles into a Joker-esque grin, and diluted them with copious amounts of lackadaisical bubble and shine. I hate to refer to to this, but when I sit down and listen to this album the whole way, flashes of the government experimentation scene in A Clockwork Orange keep flooding my head; the notes are suggesting, "Happy or Die!"
Songs like "Lingering Still", "I'm Gonna Make It Better", and "Thieves" roll along with the vigor of a dying sloth, lulling and lulling until listeners are transported to a strange state of melancholy numbness. In these songs specifically, M. Ward, who is the reason for a bulk of the music churns out music like a chore. You can't feel the real passion for the songs like you could in Volume One. The first album's music paired so perfectly with the lyrics, as if they were painting luscious scenery around the characters Deschanel would so intricately form. Now, Ward seems content with painting the colors yellow, orange, and red over and over and over again. Not to mention, Deschanel has also lost the it factor, as she just gurgles out strings of words without any feeling behind them. The music, on both sides of the duo's court, sound like chores, and chores don't make music, they make muzak. In that sense the album is great for lobby's and elevators. I would definitely put it up there with my favorite background music of all time, no doubt.
There are a few shining moments, or rather, dark spots, that briefly yank the pair's head out of the clouds for a few minutes, until the helium kicks them back into the stratosphere. I really do enjoy the albums hit, "In The Sun". It contains rarely displayed excitement with its rollicky galloping drums and its emotionally connecting piano. It doesn't take itself too surreally, instead pouncing on select few's apathy towards love, and how to deal with it. Later in the album, the band take on Milton Kellem's widely covered "Gonna Get Along Without You Now" very nicely. The song is much more intimate than most of the other songs, and this in itself adds a few more interesting brush strokes on the otherwise generic canvas. "Over It Over Again" deserves recognition just because it steps out of the hypnotically dragging pace most of the other songs partake in, instead taking a brisk pace that lightens the mood way more than you would think.
I mean, really, this was a big disappointment for me on many levels. After the greatness She and him produced on their first try, I was expecting such better storytelling. And while my expectations may have been raised, I still feel like the album is a dud. It just doesn't try hard to do what it wants to do, convey simple love. I don't feel it. I want it. I need some more. Therefore, I beg you, She and Him, to try a little bit harder on Volume Three. Add some genuine feeling and soul into your sound. Keep things interesting, and limit the bland trance songs to two. Just ask your old-selves how to do it. They certainly knew how. I still plan on seeing the group at Bonnaroo and hopefully they can convey whatever was missing on stage. I'll let you know.
P.S. Zooey Deschanel, If you somehow read this, I don't mean anything I just said. You are such an amazing songwriter, and musician, and person I love you please call me.
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