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| She and Him - Live in Toronto 2008 |
Actress/Singer Zooey Deschanel and guitar guru M. Ward were backed by a pregnant bass player, an elderly guitarist, a drummer, and a backup singer who was wearing a dress that made her look Amish. Despite these quirks, they sounded great. You want the back story? Okay, well Zooey Deschanel is an actress who’s been in countless movies (most recently “The Happening”) and she met musician M. Ward on a set where they had to film a duet. After talking about music, Zooey told him of her backlog of songs she’d written but never shown anyone. After some persuasion Ward finally got a hold of her demos and they began working together. They ended up recording an album and now they’re out on tour. If you care to youtube “Zooey Deschanel + Will Farell” you’ll find a scene from the movie Elf where they sing a duet together. Anways, back to the show: My eyes were initially glued to Deschanel who looked almost childish in her retro dress. The way she excitedly jumped around before singing, and sheepishly spoke to the audience, solidified that impression. Her voice was very pristine sounding and she definitely took the lead role in the band’s performance. Her voice – with the help of heavy reverb – filled every empty space in the venue, and was instantly recognizable for it’s unique qualities. Along with singing, she also played quite a bit of tambourine and shared piano duties with the other band members. She’s clearly very talented. My favourite moments were the songs Sentimental Heart and Change is Hard, which are easily my favourite songs from their album (Volume One). The band played a fairly short set, which may have had something to do with having only the one album. It still satisfied my expectations as I’m sure it did everyone else’s. They played almost every song from Volume One and a cover “by a Canadian” which I didn’t recognize. The band was really tight, and the drummer was particularly good – clearly playing well within his skill level. There were a few instances where I thought a mistake was made…or at least something almost went wrong but was quickly averted. There were even a few tension filled moments where I found myself nervous for Zooey, thinking to myself: Don’t screw up! – Although she proved those thoughts useless as she had it well under control. There weren’t really any problems with this performance. Sure there were a few (very few) rough edges, and I did find myself slightly bored on occasion, but overall it was a great show. Since seeing them play live, I’ve been constantly listening to their album and can’t get the chorus from Change is Hard out of my head. I’d highly recommend this band. As a final comment I’d like to mention that watching this show felt like watching a 50’s pop band, mixed with an indie band, mixed with a country band. Not really what I was expecting.
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Last update: 11-09-2008 04:55
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