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January 30, 2008

New She & Him (Zooey Deschanel & M. Ward) - "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?"

You'd think the collaboration of indie folkie M. Ward and indie hottie Zooey Deschanel would be a match made in Stereogum heaven ... and you'd be right. The two have finished work on their project's first volume, Volume One: two covers, nine Zooey originals. Merge is putting out the album, and is also psyched, throwing out Dusty Springfield, Linda Ronstadt and, the Zombies as reference points. The first track's definitely rooted in that era, M.'s production and playing adding a dusty glaze to Zooey's sassy teases. Your move, Scarlett.

Zooey Deschanel & M. Ward are She & Him. In other news, Zooey is pretty.

She & Him - "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?" (MP3)

Not bad. Volume One is out 3/18 via Merge. Here's a tracklist:

01 "Sentimental Heart"
02 "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?"
03 "This Is Not A Test"
04 "Change Is Hard"
05 "I Thought I Saw Your Face Today"
06 "Take It Back"
07 "I Was Made for You"
08 "You Really Got a Hold on Me" (Miracles cover)
09 "Black Hole"
10 "Got Me"
11 "I Should Have Known Better" (Beatles cover)

And advance notice on live shows, so you can lineup now and fight the photogs for elbow room:

03/02 San Francisco, CA @ Noise Pop
03/14 Austin, TX @ The Parish (Merge Records SXSW showcase)

Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward are She & Him

Posted at 4:07 PM in ,
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33 Comments

That was kind of great.

Posted by: Pierce at January 30, 2008 4:30 PM | Reply
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oooh, fantastic!

Posted by: Analog Bass at January 30, 2008 4:37 PM | Reply
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This was pleasantly good!

Posted by: calliwell at January 30, 2008 4:57 PM | Reply
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im just going to go out on a limb here and say, you are all slaves

Posted by: james at January 30, 2008 5:04 PM | Reply
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that's a seriously nice song. bless those two beautiful young people.

Posted by: straintest at January 30, 2008 5:10 PM | Reply
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.........seriously?

Posted by: Elliot at January 30, 2008 5:29 PM | Reply
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that...um...okay

its a good thing shes hot!

Posted by: Zach at January 30, 2008 5:41 PM | Reply
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dusty springfield and linda ronstadt? sold.

but hasn't this been up on her myspace for a while now?

Posted by: liz at January 30, 2008 5:49 PM | Reply
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I change my indie rock hottie vote.

This is a sweet song too. Unexpectedly fun from Matt.

Posted by: Roger Roger at January 30, 2008 6:04 PM | Reply
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OW. This makes my ears hurt.

Heart hug!

Posted by: John S at January 30, 2008 6:09 PM | Reply
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i bet matt ward tapped dat.

Posted by: stephen at January 30, 2008 6:15 PM | Reply
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Jenny Lewis already put out a solo album. And it was a lot better than this.

Posted by: Warren at January 30, 2008 6:25 PM | Reply
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he prob did tap dat, lucky bastard

but yeah this song is really goos. very excited to hear the rest!

much better than jenny lewis' solo album to the dude above me.....
don't even know why the two can be compared.....but okaaay.

Posted by: pete at January 30, 2008 7:19 PM | Reply
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is that the girl from pushing daisies?

Posted by: i thought her name was anna friel at January 30, 2008 8:41 PM | Reply
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1. this would've been better if phil spector produced it before he died.

2. is that howe gelb on keys?

3. this woman is going to play janis joplin?

Posted by: jacob at January 30, 2008 9:02 PM | Reply
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Phil Spector's still alive.

Posted by: Stephen at January 30, 2008 9:55 PM | Reply
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it would be cool if phil spector shot this record and stayed alive.

i wasn't that impressed...is it a little like thinking jason schwartzman's music is better that it is because you don't expect it?

Posted by: drew at January 30, 2008 10:20 PM | Reply
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um, cute. it's like americana twee.

Posted by: lupa at January 30, 2008 11:51 PM | Reply
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The music is excellent. The singing...not so much.

And hot she ain't.

Posted by: serge at January 31, 2008 12:22 AM | Reply
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It's okay. I didn't really have high expectations, but it's a nice fun song. I will reserve judgement until I hear a few more tracks.

Pitchfork was hilariously right in comparing the tracklist to titles of Xanga journal entries, though.

Posted by: jayfarer at January 31, 2008 8:01 AM | Reply
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Zooey Deschanel and Anna Friel do look a lot alike. Double the pleasure. But only one of them played Tricia McMillian, so hey, Zooey's my girl.

The song itself is good enough. Let's see how the whole album goes.

Posted by: Fiz at January 31, 2008 8:10 AM | Reply
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i think its actually quite good. i'm ready for the whole album now.

and its way better than those dump vampire kids :)

Posted by: annie onymous at January 31, 2008 8:23 AM | Reply
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What a pleasant surprise. I really liked that song.

Posted by: todd at January 31, 2008 9:23 AM | Reply
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It wasn't quite up to the standard of her classic duet of "Baby It's Cold Outside" with Will Ferrell -- but it'll do.

Posted by: Bender Bending Rodriguez at January 31, 2008 9:42 AM | Reply
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SHE WAS SO GOOD IN THE "TIN MAN" SERIES ON SCI FI CHANNEL,
Im hoping she does the soundtrack for the new season of battlestar gallactica,
no in all seriousness, I saw her in person, shes cute and has the nicest hair...but m.ward, can he get anymore blah?
y/y?

Posted by: juwannaman at January 31, 2008 2:50 PM | Reply
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Huh. I wasn't expecting to enjoy that.

Posted by: omg at January 31, 2008 4:10 PM | Reply
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Reponse to the M. Ward diss... He's not blah at all; he's extremely pleasant-looking, and crafts very fine songs. Zooey is so cute, and she has a rare and unique voice that is utterly refreshing; one that I can't help but envy. I'm awaiting the coming album with glee.

Posted by: anastacia beaverhausen at February 6, 2008 11:02 AM | Reply
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it's just such a credit to her collaborator that for the first 1/3 all i can think is "god her voice rings so false and is so annoying" and then the production and backing vocals and instruments are just so self-conscious of this and artfully kitschy that it becomes almost catchy. nevertheless, i will never listen to this again, unless i inexplicably get invited to some indie douche party in williamsburg within the next week.

Posted by: kat at February 6, 2008 10:56 PM | Reply
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hmm. i guess that last comment was to the point. however, i don't think the whole album could be judged by the one song. it sounds really different from the other stuff they've done together. for the more adventurous and less jerky folks out there you could sample more songs here:
www.myspace.com/ukemusic

a zooey fansite i made to make some of her stuff more available.

Posted by: jenn at February 12, 2008 12:47 AM | Reply
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weird. nice sounding. cool that she's playing janis, but damn, doesn't anyone else think she looks the spittin image of grace slick?

Posted by: rich at March 13, 2008 6:43 PM | Reply
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Caught them live at SXSW at the press here event and it was near perfect. The songs are great plus her voice and plus M Wards guitar work are just icing.

i found a few tracks on this blog. they are ok, I think she gets in the way on M Wards "magic trick" but the whole album is on their myspace and i cant wait to buy it!

http://fuelfriends.blogspot.com/2008/01/m-wardzooey-deschanel-collaboration-is.html

Posted by: dy at March 18, 2008 1:19 AM | Reply
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Nine, I can see why you have a crush on her. Too bad I am unable to hear why. Happy Easter! :)

Posted by: Theresa111 at March 22, 2008 3:35 PM | Reply
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Nine, I can see why you have a crush on her. Too bad I am unable to hear why. Happy Easter! :)

Posted by: Theresa111 at March 22, 2008 3:35 PM | Reply
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