Biography

Introduction

She & Him is an American indie folk band consisting of Zooey Deschanel (vocals, piano, banjo) and M. Ward (guitar, production). The band's first album, Volume One, was released on Merge Records in March, 2008. The duo is augmented by session musicians Rachel Blumberg (drums), Mike Mogis (pedal steel guitar, mandolin) and Mike Coykendall (bass, guitar). The group played at the 2008 South by Southwest festival.

History

Deschanel and Ward first met on the set of the film The Go-Getter, in which the actress had a starring role. The director, Martin Hynes, introduced them to each other and asked them to sing a duet together to be played at the end credits of the film. They decided to perform a Richard and Linda Thompson song entitled "When I Get to the Border". The two bonded over a shared interest in the records put out by George Martin productions, Phil Spector productions and certain Ralph Peer groups such as the Carter Family.

Ward, having heard Deschanel sing previously in the film Elf, was surprised to learn that she wrote songs herself, but hadn't pursued a career in music. Deschanel had actually done years worth of home demos, but was shy about becoming a big-name celebrity. On a whim, she decided to send them to Ward. Ward called her a short time later, telling her that he would like to record her songs properly, and their band She & Him was formed.^{[citation needed]} Deschanel said in an interview: "I always have loved music, ever since I was really little. I just loved to sing."

Volume One

The pair originally collaborated via e-mail, with Ward working out of his Portland, Oregon studio and Deschanel in her Los Angeles, California home. The city had a huge influence on Deschanel's music, evoking long drives along the coastal roads listening to Brian Wilson and golden oldies, jam music on 1970s AM radio. The Californian music scene also fed into Ward's production of the album, to such an extent that it inspired some of his later guitar work with alt-country singers like Jenny Lewis.

Ward would spend time "tinkering" with the music after Deschanel sent it to him, but Zooey eventually had to go to his studio to put the finishing touches on their album. They recorded in Portland in December 2006 and February-March 2007. It took them three recording sessions to complete the album. They also recorded in Mike Coykendall's and Adam Selzer's studios, and had a mixing session with Mike Mogis in his Omaha, Nebraska studio in either April or May 2007. The album is a good example of what is known as The Omaha Sound.

They took a break after that as Ward was on tour and Deschanel was filming a movie written by indie film writer John Barreca. Their album was released on March 18, 2008. Their first public appearance as a band, however, was a year and two months earlier at the Sundance screening of The Go-Getter. They performed sporadically at other events and kicked off their first tour in the summer of 2008.

In addition, Paste Magazine recently declared the She & Him's debut the #1 album of the year. Another of the magazine's articles reveals plans for a second album, entitled Volume Two.

2008 Tour

She & Him went on tour during July and August 2008. Becky Stark of the band Lavender Diamond provided back up vocals.^{[citation needed]}

Volume Two

In an interview on October 8, 2008 with Paste magazine, M. Ward announced that She & Him are currently working on Volume Two. When asked about the album Ward said "Zooey has about a gazillion brand new awesome songs. All we know about Volume Two is that it's going to be twice as good as Volume One."