She & Him

Fri., July 25, 8 p.m., $19, with Freakwater, The Trocadero, 1003 Arch St., 215-922-LIVE, thetroc.com.


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Published: Jul 22, 2008

Rock/pop

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Zooey Deschanel is cute as a button. The songs she writes with musical partner M. Ward are similarly precious, a coy mix of country-tinged rockers, girl-group sing-alongs and syrupy ballads. The actress and singer-songwriter met on a film set, where a matchmaker director asked them to duet on a cover of Richard and Linda Thompson's "When I Get to the Border." That was pretty 50-50, but it's Deschanel who steals the show on She & Him's debut album, Volume 1. Augmented by backing musicians (guitar, bass, drums), Him reels off rocking licks while She dishes out heartbreaking vocals. And while Deschanel's lyrics are a little unbelievable (seriously, who would leave her "just sitting on the shelf"?), her voice has an impassioned appeal that makes you feel empathetic to her fictional plights. Sure, it would be easy to write them off as country music for the Starbucks set, but She & Him operate under an Americana sheen that renders them as down-home as apple pie.

Fri., July 25, 8 p.m., $19, with Freakwater, The Trocadero, 1003 Arch St., 215-922-LIVE, thetroc.com.