It's Okay, We All Get the Slip Sometimes Everyday

Though decent enough, the union of actress Zooey Deshanel and indie hipster may have set a bad precedent. Not too long after they released joined together to form She and Him we were forced to witness the cringeworthy duo of Scarlett Johansson and Pete Yorn. What is next, Natalie Portman singing alongside Connor Oberst? Could this lead to a fractious Deshanel family reunion when her sister Emily of Bones fame decides she wants to start a band with Zooey’s husband, Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie? The possibilities are more frightening than watching 2012. Let us not forget Mandy Moore is still married to Ryan Adams and could start recording together at any time.

And now She and Him are back for their second album and are just as creative in their branding calling the sophomore outing Volume Two (after their debut was the aptly entitled Volume One). Not much has changed in the two years since their last album. Zooey is still crooning over music that harkens back to middle of the twentieth century folk with new millennium sheen added by the inclusion of two covers from that era by NRBQ and Skeeter Davis.

Added to that, the album opener Thieves could well have been a cover of a long lost Roy Orbison song. But much like their first album, Volume Two is slogged by a lack of diversity. The only two stand out songs are the overly-perky first single In the Sun which is accompanied by an even peppier Bye Bye Birdie style music video. The other is the album closer If You Can’t Sleep which dumps the instruments and just has Zooey joined by a humming chorus.

Song to Download – In the Sun

Volume Two gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.