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She & Him make a cool musical pair

By Sarah Rodman The Boston Globe

On paper, She & Him doesn't make sense grammatically. And, in theory, the pairing of actress Zooey ­Deschanel and indie ­guitarist M. Ward seems odd, too. But on record, specifically the duo's debut album, Volume One, the quirky couple transcends grammar and expectations.

”They are in many ways the male and female nexus of what is cool,“ says Martin Hynes, who inadvertently helped create one of 2008's most beguiling records by hooking up the star of his recent film, The Go-Getter, with the friend he enlisted to provide the score. ”They have a cachet among people who are very savvy and like good art, whatever that art is.“

In Deschanel's case, that art tends to be split between well-regarded and intelligent indie films (All the Real Girls) and big-budget studio flicks (Will Ferrell's Christmas comedy Elf). Ward, who frequently tours with like-minded troubadours Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes and Jim James of My Morning Jacket, is a critically acclaimed purveyor of cinematic Americana that came to full realization on 2006's Post-War.

Hynes introduced ­Deschanel and Ward — whose first initial stands for Matt — over dinner while trying to persuade them to record a cover of the Richard and Linda Thompson duet When I Get to the Border for the end credits of The Go-Getter.

During a post-meal ­communal jam, the ­director recalls Deschanel asking Ward if he knew the sprightly 1950s vocal-group gem Mr. ­Sandman.

”They played it just perfectly the first time through, and she sang it beautifully,“ Hynes says. ”I thought they would sound really good together, but I had no idea they would be so simpatico.“

It turns out that the duo — both California natives — had iPods full of the same songs, some of which were their own recordings of favorite songs.

”I had made an a cappella version of (the Beatles') I Should Have Known Better,“ says Deschanel on the phone from New York. ”And he had recorded it, too, and we were like, "What? That's weird.' And we had also both recorded Neil Young's Lotta Love.“

Then the shared list began to flow: Smokey Robinson, Sam Cooke, and ”a lot of old country,“ Deschanel says.

Ward says from his home in Portland, Ore.: ”Once we got to see each other's process in the studio (recording the song for the film), we sort of realized that this is somebody who is involved in music for the same reasons that I am.“

Those reasons included ”participating in this tradition of expressing oneself and that it's not about being a star,“ says Deschanel, who had ­performed in bands on and off and had boxes and boxes of demos she had kept to herself since she began playing piano and writing songs at age 8. ”All these sorts of things that maybe a lot of people would think were silly or idealistic, Matt actually totally agrees with it.“

”Eventually I heard her demos, and it's so rare that you come across songs that nobody's heard before that are great,“ says Ward, who says the recording process was quick and collaborative. ”She steered the boat for vocals, and I steered the boat as far as the production of those different instruments — drums, strings, guitar, and keyboards — go.“

If sepia were a sound as opposed to a color, then Deschanel's voice would have it. Volume One is most assuredly retro, cross-pollinating all of the pair's stated influences, including a dreamy take on their favorite Beatles song and a sparse version of Robinson's You Really Got a Hold on Me. The rest, all Deschanel originals, including Why Do You Let Me Stay Here and Change Is Hard, evoke the vintage pop of Dusty Springfield as well as Jeannie C. Reilly's country classic Harper Valley PTA.

”I think her songs ­definitely toe the line between old and new in a really interesting way,“ Ward says.