Merge Records

She & Him

She & Him
photo credit: Sam Jones

She & Him make music for an eternal springtime, when the temperature is warm enough to go riding with the top (or at least the windows) rolled down and the radio turned up. They occupy an alternate universe where the saddest of songs feel as warm as sun showers; the rain may be coming down, but somewhere nearby, everything looks bright. What began as a fascinating, no-strings attached collaboration on 2008's Volume One has evolved into a bona fide, touring band, and She & Him are here to stay. Zooey Deschanel and Matt Ward are as comfortable and complementary a musical pair as Les Paul and Mary Ford; hearing them again on Volume Two feels like getting together with two old friends. This time, the harmonies have grown more angelically layered, the string arrangements more dramatic, the songwriting even sharper and more confident. But, as with Volume One, the prevailing mood is bittersweet, dreamy, and romantic.

The success of She & Him's Volume One came out of left field, as Deschanel and Ward's seemingly unlikely pairing-the effervescent actress-songwriter and the sought-after yet self-effacing guitarist-proved to sound absolutely right. When the record, packed full of Deschanel's wondrous songs, was finished, they didn't so much announce themselves as simply step up to the mic and start playing. Their choices of band moniker and album titles were deliberate; as Deschanel told the New York Times: 'I wanted a name that was very humble, modest and anonymous.' Matt agrees: 'We wanted the music to come first, which sort of explains the band name as well as the names of the records. The songs are what we want people to remember.'

They successfully got through their first gigs under the media glare of Noise Pop and South by Southwest, following those performances with a short summer tour and an appearance at the Newport Folk Festival. Critics were as smitten as their listeners. Paste named Volume One its Album of the Year. The BBC declared, 'All the ups and downs of young romance are faithfully recreated in loving fidelity and a variety of styles to evoke that teary-eyed yesteryear pop ambience.' Spin simply decided, 'They both seem to be having a blast.'

'We instinctually landed on this process while making Volume One,' explains Ward, 'that Zooey would write the music and the lyrics and I would produce and arrange. It's been the most natural extension of our interests and abilities. Using the back and forth between voices and guitars is the main force of the music, and we both have a great love for using harmonies. I think the songs lend themselves to production styles that I love and that she loves. There's no need to change it now, so the process for Volume Two is exactly the same: Zooey writes everything, I produce, and we both bring our ideas to the studio.'

Volume Two was recorded in Los Angeles (where She lives) and Portland, OR (where Him resides). Joining them for these sessions was engineer, bassist and occasional backing vocalist Mike Coykendall. Notes Deschanel, 'I do the bulk of the harmonies, then Matt will fill in some sonic space that I just cannot fill because he has that incredibly raspy, soulful voice. We cover different emotional ground. It's a cool sort of tool to use. I hear Matt's voice here or my voice there. Together we can sound like a lot of people. And Coykendall is quite a good singer too.'

'I think we both went for it a little bit more, so to speak,' says Deschanel. 'I definitely got more ambitious with my backing vocal arrangements. That's a real passion for me.' The closing song on Volume Two illustrates her point: 'Thieves,' for example, builds to a Roy Orbison-like grandeur and 'If You Can't Sleep' floats on clouds of multi-tracked vocals. 'I think we were both more comfortable,' she continues. 'This time we had a little more opportunity to reflect. Some of the production is extremely complex. Home,' for example, is a very elaborate piece production-wise; that was the longest Matt has spent on one of our songs. It's very, very lush.'

Prior to forming She & Him, Deschanel had been writing and secretly stockpiling tunes for years. She agreed to let Ward hear them after the two collaborated on a Richard and Linda Thompson cover for an indie film, The Go-Getter, that she was starring in and Ward was scoring. Like many movie fans, Ward had first heard her sing on screen in the disarmingly affecting Elf and was intrigued. As Deschanel recounts, 'I explored the idea of doing my own stuff with other people but hadn't found anyone who I'd really trusted. Then I met Matt. He was the perfect person, and the only person who shared my taste. We're almost always coming from the same point of view musically.'

'I had no idea what I was going to hear when I first got her songs,' admits Ward. 'I think Volume One surprised a lot of people when they opened up the package and learned that she wrote all these songs. There are a lot of people who write music so that they can take their audience to a dark night of their own soul or to get something really heavy off their chest. I don't think Zooey looks at music that way, and I think that's a huge part of where her songwriting is coming from. Certain people write songs to make other people feel good. When I think about some of my favorite singers, like Sam Cooke or people of that generation, I think that they saw their gift as the ability to make people feel better, to feel happy. It's contagious to be around people like that.' 'I would say all my influences are older, more classic songwriters,' Deschanel elaborates, 'from Cole Porter and Gershwin to Carole King and Roy Orbison and Bobbie Gentry. People always expect you to be a fan of what's happening now, but the things I gravitate toward are older and more worn.'

On Volume Two, their choice of cover songs echoes the themes in Deschanel's original material. NRBQ's 'Riding in My Car' should have been a hit, and She & Him have been smart enough to revive it. Their other cover, 'Gonna Get Along Without You Now,' is a country-pop shuffle made famous by Skeeter Davis. Though better known for the morose ballad 'End of the World,' this one is a cool-headed kiss-off-a downbeat subject handled in a lighthearted manner, making for the perfect balance of happy and sad, a trademark of She & Him.

'I'm really interested in trying to find balance in every production,' says Ward. 'One of my favorite amusements in the studio is to try and create as much of a contrast between dark and light as I can, to either complement or go against the lyrics in the mix. I guess I believe good production should be like a good photograph, which is a great contrast between dark and light. Fortunately, Zooey has lots of characters and songs that go back and forth quickly between these darker and lighter shades. That's half of the process in production: making sure that nothing gets too sunny or washed out or that nothing gets too dark or lopsided. Some of the best older songs had very major chord progressions and really sad lyrics.

Somehow it all evens out, creating this perfect picture of life. Because life is not always sunny, it's not always dark-it's somewhere in between.'

- Michael Hill

www.sheandhim.com
07/26/10
She & Him are the musical guests on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on Monday night. Watch the performance below!

She & Him have just finished a tour in support of Volume Two with more dates planned later this summer. Check out their new video for “Thieves” and order Volume Two on CD, LP and digital download now in the Merge store.

She & Him on tour:
08-26 Salt Lake City, UT Twilight Music Series
08-28 Omaha, NE Anchor Inn
08-29 St. Louis, MO LouFest
08-30 Kansas City, MO Uptown Theatre
09-01 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium
09-05 Los Angeles, CA Paramount Studios
10-17 San Francisco, CA Treasure Island

Click here to view the embedded video.

05/04/10
Spring has sprung and it is time for a new free Merge sampler! Featuring hit songs from the latest albums of Radar Brothers, Spoon, Let’s Wrestle, She & Him and more, visit amazon.com now to download all fourteen free songs with special cover art by Let’s Wrestle’s Wesley Patrick Gonzalez!

As always, you can find new albums from all of these artists and more in our handy Merge store.

Free Merge 2010 digital sampler track listing:
1. Radar Brothers – Horses Warriors (from The Illustrated Garden)
2. Let’s Wrestle – I Won’t Lie to You (from In the Court of the Wrestling Let’s)
3. Destroyer – The Very Modern Dance (from Streethawk: A Seduction)
4. Shout Out Louds – Fall Hard (from Work)
5. Spoon – Written in Reverse (from Transference)
6. Lou Barlow – Don’t Apologize (from Goodnight Unknown)
7. She & Him – Thieves (from Volume Two)
8. Superchunk – Learned to Surf (from Leaves in the Gutter)
9. Alec Bathgate – Glide (from Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox)
10. The Clientele – I Wonder Who We Are (from Bonfires on the Heath)
11. Caribou – Odessa (from Swim)
12. The Clean – In the Dreamlife U Need a Rubber Soul (from Mister Pop)
13. Wye Oak – I Hope You Die (from My Neighbor / My Creator)
14. Lambchop – Give It (from Live at XX Merge)

04/29/10
After making acclaimed stops at Coachella, SXSW and more this spring, She & Him will be returning to the road this summer in support of their critically acclaimed sophomore album, Volume Two, available on CD, LP and digital download in the Merge store. In addition to appearances at the Sasquatch! and Bonnaroo festivals, the band will be playing a free show in Chicago at Millennium Park on June 7th, and one in New York City at Governor’s Island on July 4th.  They will also be performing at the legendary Hollywood Bowl on July 19th, along with The Swell Season and The Bird and the Bee.

She & Him on Tour:
5/28  Santa Cruz, CA @ Rio Theatre
5/29  Oakland, CA @ Fox Theatre
5/30  Bend, OR @ Le Schwab Amphitheatre*
5/31  George, WA @ Sasquatch! Music Festival
6/4    Milwaukee, WI  @ Verge Music Festival 2010
6/5    Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
6/6    Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Theatre
6/7    Chicago, IL  @ Millennium Park – Downtown Sound Series
6/9    Toronto, ON @ Sound Academy
6/10   Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues
6/11   Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
7/1     Boston, MA @ House of Blues
7/2     Philadelphia, PA @ Great Plaza at Penn’s Landing
7/3     Oxford, ME @ Nateva Music Festival
7/4     New York, NY @ The Beach at Governors Island
7/6     New York, NY @ Terminal 5
7/7     Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
7/9     Atlanta, GA Atlanta @ Botanical Gardens
7/10   Birmingham, AL @ Sloss Furnaces
7/11   Louisville, KY @ TBD
7/18   Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl**
8/29   St. Louis, MO @ LouFest
* w/ BAND OF HORSES & DAWES
** w/ The Swell Season & Bird and the Bee

04/02/10
She & Him will perform live on Jimmy Kimmel Live! tonight – Monday, April 5. They’ll be playing “Thieves,” the first song from Volume Two. Check your local listings for time and channel, and set those DVRs!

If you missed She & Him’s performance on The Late Show with David Letterman on Friday, watch it now!

Preview and order the newly released Volume Two on CD and LP in the Merge store and watch their brand-new video for “In the Sun” now!

photo credit: Taea Thale

03/15/10
Merge will be well-represented at the SXSW Music Festival in Austin this year with eight bands and two special Our Noise events. Our bands will be playing all over the city during the festival, so if you will be in Austin, keep your eyes peeled for all of the cool daytime parties being announced daily.

Our helpful flyer is below – click to make it larger & to print it to take with you! Share the link on your twitter & Facebook, too!

Spoon are headlining the NPR show at Stubbs BBQ on Wednesday, March 17 (12:15 am) and She & Him are playing a free, open to the public show at Auditorium Shores on Saturday March 20 (8 pm).  Superchunk are playing a free Village Voice day party at La Zona Rosa on March 19 (3 pm).

Merge Showcase @ Cedar Street Courtyard
208 West 4th St b/t Colorado & Lavaca
Thursday, March 18th
7 PM
(from first to last)
Special Guest
Let’s Wrestle
Radar Brothers
She & Him
Wye Oak
Lou Barlow + the missingmen
The Love Language


Merge @ Homeslice Pizza’s “Music by the Slice” Party
1415 Congress Ave.
Free & Open to the public

Thursday, March 18:
1:30 pm The Love Language
2:15 pm Radar Brothers

Friday, March 19:
Noon Let’s Wrestle
3:45  Wye Oak
6:45  Lou Barlow

Also, book events!

Our Noise event @ Book People (603 N. Lamar Blvd)
Wednesday, March 17 at 6PM
Free & Open to the Public
Mac & Laura will read selections from their book, Our Noise, and will perform covers of songs from selected bands mentioned in the book. They’ll be available to sign books afterwards, too.

Our Noise panel @ SXSW Convention Center
Thursday, March 18 at 2PM
Open to convention registrants only
Michael Azerrad will moderate a Q&A-style event with Mac & Laura about Our Noise and 20 years of Merge Records.



08.26.2010 Salt Lake City, UT Twilight Music Series
08.28.2010 Omaha, NE Anchor Inn
08.29.2010 St. Louis, MO LouFest
08.30.2010 Kansas City, MO Uptown Theatre
09.01.2010 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium
09.05.2010 Los Angeles, CA Paramount Studios Los Angeles Times Celebration of Food & Wine
10.17.2010 San Francisco, CA Treasure Island
Volume One - March 18, 2008 [Merge]
Volume Two - March 23, 2019 [Merge]

Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? (video)


from Volume One
STREAM

Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?


from Volume One
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On Tour

Arcade Fire [+]

July
31 Montreal Osheaga Festival
August
01 Boston, MA Bank of America Pavillion
02 Philadelphia, PA Mann Centre for the Performing Arts
04 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
05 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
[see all]

Lou Barlow [+]

August
17 Milford, CT Daniel Street
18 Washington, DC Rock N Roll Hotel
19 Carrboro, NC Cat's Cradle
20 Asheville, NC Grey Eagle
21 Nashville, TN The Basement
[see all]

Richard Buckner [+]

July
31 Baltimore, MD Ram's Head Live
September
08 Asheville, NC The Grey Eagle
09 Columbia, SC Columbia Museum of Art
10 Raleigh, NC Hopscotch Music Festival
11 Charlotte, NC Evening Muse
[see all]

Caribou [+]

September
15 Ottawa, ON Babylon
18 London, ON Victoria Park Bandshell
24 Cincinnati, OH Midpoint Music Festival
25 Champaign-Urbana, IL Pygmalion Festival
October
04 Seattle, WA Showbox at the Market

The Clientele [+]

September
06 Seattle, WA TBA
07 Portland, OR Doug Fir
09 Oakland, CA New Parish
10 San Francisco, CA Independent
11 Los Angeles, CA Echoplex
[see all]

Fucked Up [+]

July
30 Moscow Aktzal
August
06 Hertfordshire Standon Calling
07 Kent Hevy Festival
08 Blackpool Rebellion Festival
09 London Hoxton Bar & Grill
[see all]

Let's Wrestle [+]

September
04 Los Angeles, CA FYF Fest
05 Santa Barbara, CA Club Mercy Presents
06 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
08 Seattle, WA Neumo's
09 Vancouver, BC Rickshaw Theatre
[see all]

The Love Language [+]

August
28 Wilmington, NC The Soapbox
September
03 Atlanta, GA The Earl
04 Charlotte, NC Visulite Theatre
11 Raleigh, NC Hopscotch Festival
12 Nashville, TN Exit / In
[see all]

Polvo [+]

August
12 Pittsburgh, PA Brillobox
13 Toronto, ON Lee's Palace
14 Montreal, QC La Sala Rossa

The Rosebuds [+]

September
10 Raleigh, NC Hopscotch Festival

She & Him [+]

August
26 Salt Lake City, UT Twilight Music Series
28 Omaha, NE Anchor Inn
29 St. Louis, MO LouFest
30 Kansas City, MO Uptown Theatre
September
01 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium
[see all]

Spoon [+]

August
02 Philadelphia, PA Mann Centre for the Performing Arts
04 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
05 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
06 Washington, DC Merriweather Post Pavilion
07 Chicago, IL Lollapalooza
[see all]

Superchunk [+]

September
16 Durham, NC The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University
17 Washington 9:30 Club
18 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
19 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg
21 Boston, MA Royale
[see all]

Teenage Fanclub [+]

September
22 Toronto, ON The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
23 Toronto, ON The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
24 Montreal, QC Le National
25 Boston, MA Royale
27 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
[see all]

Telekinesis [+]

August
31 St. Louis, MO Firebird
September
01 Urbana, IL Canopy Club
02 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall
03 Detroit, MI Magic Stick
04 Toronto, ON El Mocambo
[see all]

Versus [+]

August
12 Brooklyn, NY Rock Shop
13 Toronto, ON Lee's Palace
14 Montreal La Sala Rossa
September
21 Boston, MA Royale
22 Philadelphia, PA Trocadero Theatre

Wye Oak [+]

August
17 Milford, CT Daniel Street
18 Washington, DC Rock N Roll Hotel
19 Carrboro, NC Cat's Cradle
20 Asheville, NC Grey Eagle
21 Nashville, TN The Basement
[see all]
see all tour dates

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