Zooey Deschanel sings many forlorn lyrics in She & Him, but the weight of these words somehow don’t threaten to sink the buoyant music that Matt Ward makes behind her.
It’s a delicate balance, says Deschanel.
“I’m so happy,” she says about her mindset when performing the songs onstage. “But I like the feeling of melancholy and happy at the same time. I think that is interesting. I think both Matt and I are always trying to cultivate that juxtaposition, because I think if you get too one-note it loses interest and it becomes consumable.”
That tension is what gives life to the duo’s new “Volume Two.” The first single, “In the Sun,” bounces with Wilco piano on top of a trotting rhythm, but she sings about how the object of her desire has no interest in her. Still, there’s something romantic enough in this approach that one she and him had a She & Him wedding.
“A couple came to our show in Oakland who had just gotten married and they were like, ‘We fell in love to your first record,’” marvels Deschanel.
