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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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37 Comments

That was kind of great.

Posted by: Pierce at 01/30/08 4:30 PM | Reply
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oooh, fantastic!

Posted by: Analog Bass at 01/30/08 4:37 PM | Reply
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This was pleasantly good!

Posted by: calliwell at 01/30/08 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 01/30/08 5:04 PM | Reply
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that's a seriously nice song. bless those two beautiful young people.

Posted by: straintest at 01/30/08 5:10 PM | Reply
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.........seriously?

Posted by: Elliot at 01/30/08 5:29 PM | Reply
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that...um...okay

its a good thing shes hot!

Posted by: Zach at 01/30/08 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 01/30/08 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 01/30/08 6:04 PM | Reply
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OW. This makes my ears hurt.

Heart hug!

Posted by: John S at 01/30/08 6:09 PM | Reply
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i bet matt ward tapped dat.

Posted by: stephen at 01/30/08 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 01/30/08 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 01/30/08 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 01/30/08 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 01/30/08 9:02 PM | Reply
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Phil Spector's still alive.

Posted by: Stephen at 01/30/08 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 01/30/08 10:20 PM | Reply
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um, cute. it's like americana twee.

Posted by: lupa at 01/30/08 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 01/31/08 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 01/31/08 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 01/31/08 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 01/31/08 8:23 AM | Reply
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What a pleasant surprise. I really liked that song.

Posted by: todd at 01/31/08 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 01/31/08 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 01/31/08 2:50 PM | Reply
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Huh. I wasn't expecting to enjoy that.

Posted by: omg at 01/31/08 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 02/06/08 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 02/06/08 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 02/12/08 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 03/13/08 6:43 PM | Reply
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Yep, I have been thinking this, could make a much better Grace Slick than Janice Joplin.

Posted by: Eric in reply to rich's comment at 06/26/08 12:22 AM | 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 03/18/08 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 03/22/08 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 03/22/08 3:35 PM | Reply
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Great song. Still not as good as the duet with Wil Ferrell in Elf. "Baby it's cold outside" makes you warm for hours.

Voice of an angel.

Posted by: Beechworth at 06/15/08 8:50 PM | Reply
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Considering she's been writing songs since she was 8 lyrically it's fun.
Vocally it could use some clean up, but perhaps the simple and honest slightly imperfect vocal style was the intent??
I like the arrangement and the lead gutiar has some interesting moments that stand out.
Will be finding the album for sure.

Posted by: GregoriousNine at 06/26/08 7:56 AM | Reply
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does any1 know the strumming pattern 4 this song?
thanx

Posted by: hey girl hey at 01/25/09 7:19 PM | Reply
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