She & Him live

She & Him
Park West, Chicago
Tuesday, August 5, 2008

While most actress-stabs at musical careers usually fall flat (Jennifer Love Hewitt, Lindsay Lohan, and most recently Scarlett Johansson), Zooey Deschanel (The Happening, Elf, and Almost Famous) manages to pull off the impossible by not only receiving heaping praise, but also garnering a following that isn’t solely based on her celebrity.

Perhaps it’s because her sound leans more toward ’60s pop and classic country rather than whatever’s going on at the local mall. Who knows? In any event, it’s quite likely that none of this would be possible without the help of country-folk artist M Ward, who not only collaborated with Deschanel on Volume One (Merge) under the moniker of She & Him, but also undoubtedly lent some credibility to something that could have just as easily been seen as a vanity project.

Playing to a sold-out Park West, the band emerged from the dimly lit stage, Deschanel (not surprisingly) standing out the most, adorned in a sleeveless, sequined top, big yellow skirt, and nearly as large Loretta Lynn-esque black hair. Deciding to eschew any idle chitchat, Deschanel, Ward, and the rest got right down to it, opening with the sentimental and wistful “Black Hole.” While admittedly new to the whole life of the touring musician, it took Deschanel a while to warm up in front of the audience, but once she did, she seemed like a kid in a candy shop, at times smiling and clapping her hands to the beat, while at others hopping up and down as if excited at the beckon of the ice-cream man.

Throughout the evening, Deschanel switched between the tambourine and the grand piano, where her talent on the old ivories was quite the surprise, especially on the crowd-pleasing, yet heartbreakingly extravagant “Sentimental Heart” and the ’50s twang of the pleading “Take It Back.” Obviously, though, it was Deschanel’s voice – sweet and lush – that really made the crowd stand up and take notice, especially when all other band members left the stage to her and Ward for Smokey Robinson’s “You Really Got A Hold Of Me” and an encore of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put A Spell On You.”

— Dean Ramos

Category: Live Reviews, Weekly