She & Him - Volume 2

Jared Leto’s 30 Seconds to Mars, Keanu Reeves’ Dogstar, Russell Crowe’s…and The Ordinary Fear of God.
Actor’s bands, as you can see, have somewhat of a chequered past.

I mention this as She & Him are actress Zooey Deschanel (Elf, (500) Days of Summer) and sometime Monster of Folk; M.Ward.
“Sometimes lonely isn’t sad” sings Deschanel on ‘Thieves’ which opens ‘Volume 2’ (shockingly, their second album), this sets the mood for the rest of the album, lyrically rather melancholic, but musically, irresistibly cheerful.
Her “mmm-hmm’s” and “uh-huh’s” make the cover of Skeeter Thompson’s ‘Gonna Get Along Without You Now’ more infectious, and downright joyous than it has any right to be. Ward’s role is a subtle one, so much so that when his vocals arrive on ‘Ridin’ In My Car’ (another cover) it comes as somewhat as a surprise, like bumping into an old friend that you haven’t seen in years. His guitar playing and arrangements compliment Dechanel’s voice (not the strongest, but used to great effect throughout) incredibly well, and the bridge of ‘Home’, when the song delicately and majestically changes direction, is just gorgeous.
Mike Mogis (another Monster of Folk and member of Bright Eyes) has done a sterling job with the production on this record, restrained, but effective. For much of the album Deschanel’s vocals are backed up by a trio of Deschanels, giving them somewhat of a Supreme’s-esque quality.
‘Volume 2’ is an absolute triumph, unashamedly nostalgic (they wouldn’t have looked out of place performing at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance at Hill Valley High School in 1955) more than a little twee (as fuck), it combines Deschanel’s love of country music and Ward’s alt.folk credentials to great effect. I’ll be very surprised if I hear a pop album quite this perfect for some time.
Roll on Volume 3!

Freelance Whales - weathervanes

As far as buskers are concerned, York is somewhat of a mixed bag, on the one hand, there’s the guy with the beard, yeh, that one, but on the other there’s that other guy, you know, the one that plays ‘Comfortably Numb’ over and over and over and over and over. There are a couple of chaps with Pianos, but then there’s the guy with the violin, and the devil puppet attached to his crotch.

York’s more recent namesake, I’m sure, is a similarly diverse city in this respect, Freelance Whales (I know, awful, isn’t it?) thankfully, are five of the good-uns. Forming in late 2008, rather than just playing New York’s bars and clubs, they took to it’s street corners and subway stations, rather quickly building up a reputation.

The record company blurb would have you believe that ‘weathervanes’ is a ramshackle, clunking and clattering piece of work, and at times, it is, it is also, however, for the debut of a band who formed less than a year before recording it, incredibly accomplished. Initially released last year whilst the band were still unsigned – hard to believe, considering the production quality – it, and they have now found a home at Frenchkiss Records (also home to Local Natives, The Antlers, and The Hold Steady).

Freelance Whales certainly wear their influences on their (stripy jumper) sleeves, most notably Sufjan Stevens and The Postal Service. Ben Gibbard, one half of the latter, has clearly also influenced them lyrically, charmingly awkward and naïve lines such as “I’ve arranged for your phobias to be performed by a string quartet” from the rather jaunty ‘kilojoules’ and “as you pull me from the bed, tell me I look stunning and cadaverous” from ‘Generator ^2nd Floor’ are two of the more particularly wonderful examples.

However, these influences are also the biggest problem with this record, ‘Hannah’ being a case in point, a harmless little ditty initially, the more I hear it, the more it bugs me. It manages to sound, simultaneously, like The Postal Service and The Moldy Peaches, and the phrasing in the verses is so similar to ‘Decatur, or a round of applause for your stepmother’ by Mr Stevens, it verges on plagiarism. ‘We could be friends’ is easily the most irritating song I have heard in a long time. I mean, is stretching the word “common” to a bajillion syllables really necessary?. It is on this track that the often saccharine vocals reach their diabetes inducing peak, and I find myself struggling not to skip past it on each and every listen.

Freelance Whales certainly have a lot of potential, it is, at times, astonishing that this record is the product of a band that was less than a year old. If they can find a little depth, and a bit more individuality, they could be on to something.