Actors-turned-musicians tend to take on this hyphenation as another outlet for publicity and building a name. Luckily, this is patently untrue for a celebrity as allergic to the limelight as Zooey Deschanel. Deschanel teams up again with singer/songwriter M. Ward for a follow-up to their debut that is filled to the brim with good ol’ American pop. For a band that started off collaborating over email, they’ve clicked quite nicely. Ward’s musicianship and Deschanel’s indie cred have always raised questions about this band’s status as a side project; Volume Two should raise further concerns.
You could say that they’ve again found their sound, but that would be a little untrue because “their” sound is actually the sound of the 1950s and 60s (read: The Beach Boys updated for modernity). The entire album walks a fine line between indiedom and semi-obnoxious 1950s songstresses. Following this line is interesting at first, but loses its zing as the album hits the 30-minute mark. This music is carefree, hearkening back to a time when music was almost exclusively about love and its reciprocal loneliness. Volume Two is so easygoing that it sounds like a car commercial infused with copious amounts of sunshine. This cheeriness can, at times, be blinding.
Deschanel’s actress status may actually add to her music: her voice, like her acting, has something offbeat about it, which makes her mellifluousness all the more real. This reality ends up making for an interesting combination: Volume Two offers the picture-perfect musical stylings of years past alongside the raw, unusual and indie flairs of Zooey Deschanel.
3.5 STARS
