 "Photo: Courtesy of Hahn/Khayat/Nebinger/Abaca Press/MCT Campus")
Actress Zooey Deschanel and music producer M. Ward have done something unusual: they've broken the stereotype of the "celebrity musician" who churns out flavor-of-the-month pop to increase exposure.
Instead, the qualities that make Deschanel's low-key, introspective TV and film roles appealing are found on "Volume One," and should generate as many fanboys of either collaborator's music as her acting.
"Volume One" sounds like a throwback to chart-topping 60s pop doo-wop, and if there weren't liner notes to indicate that she wrote 8 of the 11 songs, I would mistake it for a covers album. Instead, Ward and Deschanel have skillfully built a set of breezy, mostly forlorn songs.
The sound spans from the broken-heart ballads "Sentimental Heart" and "Change is Hard" to more playful fare such as "Sweet Darlin'," which was co-written by fellow indie film darling Jason Schwartzman. The lyrics are never darker than regretful break-ups or longing, but Deschanel's delivery sells every line. Case in point: she sings "I should know" three times in a row on "Change Is Hard," but the different cadence she gives each line fills out her three-dimensional portrait.
In "Change Is Hard" and other songs such as "Got Me," the music takes a rustic, country-western feel that has all the confidence and talent of a start-up Loretta Lynn. Deschanel's voice is able to match Ward's slide guitar to create a wholesome sound that evokes the past while creating something fresh. Think of a purely romantic Amy Winehouse without lyrics about abuse, spousal or otherwise.
Ward's production lets the listener fall in love with your voice, and not some idealized version of it. His choice in analog recording only enhances the old-school feel, but also quality, of the album. Your voice lilts and soars with great success, but also sounds perfectly natural, as if you were on a cozy stage in your hometown instead of being processed through a pitch-editing program.
Ward also uses his trained ear to fill each track with the right instruments and background to give Deschanel's voice the best space in which to work. The strumming acoustic guitar in songs like the bouncy "This Is Not A Test" complement Deschanel's voice perfectly, and a staccato piano punctuates "I Thought I Saw Your Face Today" against a background violin. The only artificial element to the music is when Deschanel is joined by a looping chorus of herself, but there's no such thing as too much Deschanel.
In fact, the only shortcomings in "Volume One" are the covers of Smokey Robinson's "You Really Got A Hold On Me" and The Beatles' "I Should Have Known Better," at least in comparison to the original songs. They sound as if Ward's creativity was reined in, and that treatment doesn't fit as well next to the gem tracks. But as the album stands, listeners should hope "Volume Two" is around the corner.
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