By Joe Johnson (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: January 28, 2015
Nearly seven years after the indie duo She & Him, otherwise known as Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward, released their first album, we now have Classics. Five albums in seven years — now that’s commendable. But it always raises skepticism when a band releases music at that rate. Fortunately, up until now She & Him have found a way to remain fresh, partly helped by their ability to appreciate and modernize music from decades of the past. It’s too bad that Classics has fallen flat.
Don’t get me wrong — this band is always looking to progress. And I’ve been a fan for years. But that’s why it hurts so much to see such an eagerly awaited album taken down by bland arrangements.
It is a bold album and deserves to be recognized as one. Classics is a conceptual compilation consisting of covers of classic songs from primarily between the ‘30s and ‘70s, and expands over 13 tracks. It’s an interesting selection for the band to revise as none of the songs, outside of “Unchained Melody,” are familiar. But because of the arrangements, even “Unchained Melody” has been stripped of its distinctiveness.
It’s also worth mentioning that while they’ve taken these songs from different decades, M. Ward — who also produced the album — crafted the arrangements and ties them all together. It’s just unfortunate that they’re tied together with a bland drone that removes these songs from the original artists, and yet does little to provide any hook that She & Him are extremely well-suited to do. There really are no tracks to single out and mention.
However, there are some interesting facts about this album. It’s the band’s first release after leaving the independent Merge Records. The album was also recorded live with a 20-piece orchestra set.
While the album may not live up to the band’s potential, there can be no denying the effort. And perhaps that will be appreciated by different tastes.
