Orange County Register has some awesome photos (click “More Photos”) of Zooey, Matt, and Becky Stark at the Anaheim show on November 5th. And check out the review as well, where the Register calls the performance “a positively charming show.” [thanks Miguel!]

Another article, this one from City Pages, gushing about what we already know — Zooey and Matt rocks. It’s yet another positive review on She & Him’s August 7th performance in Minneapolis.

Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward sure are easy to like. Everything about the She & Him duo is charming: their mismatched pronouns; their shy, disarming demeanor; their classic, old fashioned love songs. Within minutes of taking the stage at First Avenue, they had captured the attention (and hearts) of every person in the near-capacity crowd, and the audience hung on their every note and phrase. It was possibly the most soothing, engaging show I have ever seen at a rock club.

She & Him played almost every song off their debut album, Volume One, fleshing out their set with a couple of new songs and some choice covers (Joni Mitchell’s “You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio” and an encore performance of Sam Cooke’s “Bring It On Home to Me”). For most of the set Deschanel and Ward were joined by a backing band, but some of the best moments occurred when the band left the stage and just She & Him were left to delight the audience.

For the most part, Ward stayed to the side of the stage and focused on his guitar work, but when the band left he stepped up to the mic to sing a duet with Deschanel on Smokey Robinson’s “You Really Got a Hold On Me.” It was clear the audience wanted to hear more from Ward — a swell of screams rose up every time he sang a line. But his vocal work was sparse, and he sang with his back to the audience and his eyes on Deschanel, making it clear that this project is all about her and her lovely songs.

Deschanel appeared nervous at first, but toward the end of the set she had relaxed and looked to be sincerely enjoying herself — a big contrast to her stage presence at South by Southwest this year, which was the first time I saw She & Him live. In Austin, Deschanel maintained a deer-in-the-headlights expression throughout their brief set, but this time around she smiled and laughed and joked with the audience. “I bought this dress today, right here in Minneapolis,” she announced, motioning to her baby blue, ’40s-era cocktail dress, which was met with hearty approval from the crowd.

In the end, She & Him’s set felt too short, and the audience clearly wanted more even after the encore — a good sign for these delightful rising stars. Here’s hoping that they release Volume Two soon.

Set List:

Black Hole
I Was Made For You
Change Is Hard
Sentimental Heart
*band leaves, just Matt and Zooey play a set
You Really Got a Hold on Me (Smokey Robinson cover)
I Don’t Want to Wonder if You Love Me…cover??
Terrible News – new
You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio (Joni Mitchell cover)
*band comes back
Saw You Lingering Still – new
Got Me
I Thought I Saw Your Face Today
Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?
This is Not a Test
Sweet Darlin’

Encore:
Bring It On Home to Me (Sam Cooke cover)

Irony took a vacation last night in the Wexner Center’s Performance Space during a two-hour concert headlined by She & Him.

The band’s mostly acoustic sound casually framed the sweet, pining love songs of actress Zooey Deschanel, who sang them with a winning simplicity and convincing honesty. Hip indie-rock songwriter M. Ward, Deschanel’s co-conspirator and producer of the group’s debut album, masterminded the presentation with a reserved style that set the tone for the set.

Deschanel’s songs, remembrances of old love, yearnings for new and ambivalence over romance lost, were front and center all night. Many began with simple lines with a classic ring: “I was taking a walk when I saw you pass by,” from I Was Made For You; “Cried all night ’til there was nothing more,” from Sentimental Heart.

Both were among the evening’s high points, though the first was wide-eyed, a little giddy and a touch sultry. The second investigated the consequences of falling that way, without a net.

Take It Back opened with a haunting delivery of the title and a hint of sour grapes before becoming downright sexy in the swinging blues chorus.

Though Deschanel’s songs are simple, their lyrics boiled to essence, there is an unconscious sophistication to them. She skillfully puts that depth into her performance, perhaps drawing from her acting.

With a stature, a fashion sense, and most important, a voice that recalls mid-1960s post-Stone Poneys Linda Ronstadt, she taps a classic sound. With her naivete and so-so technique, she adds a plain-sounding honesty that fits her songs perfectly.

Where the album’s recording surrounds the vocals with space but also washes them with reverb, live Deschanel stood stage center and delivered, nearly devoid of sonic props.

Ward’s fills helped add color, especially during the intense but short solo for the playful love song Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? The band very simply but effectively added detail, echoing country, folk, 1960s “girl group,” and surf sounds.

Though the songs frequently reached back to vintage influence – This Is Not A Test would be a fine addition to a Mamas & Papas record – they were not the least bit stalled in the past.

Pulling them off, however, required finding the innocence of an earlier era and performing without a trace of irony, a treatment that made covers by the likes of Joni Mitchell perfect source material.

It was a quality singer Becky Stark, who opened the show, had in the extreme. Impossibly sensitive, almost comically nave, and seemingly lost onstage, she delivered a short set that rarely had enough confidence to find the beauty in her best songs.

It reads like the screenplay for a 1960s B-movie musical aimed at the teen drive-in crowd: A glamorous, young Hollywood actress meets up with a scruffy roots rocker, and the unlikely duo make beautiful music together.

It doesn’t sound like the sort of movie that Zooey Deschanel would agree to star in (although she was in M. Night Shyamalan’s hilariously bad “The Happening,” so who knows?). But she’s living the real-life version with indie rocker M. Ward as the duo She & Him, who together played an utterly charming show at the Barrymore Theatre on Friday night.

The well-attended show was the final night of She & Him’s summer tour, and the duo (along with four other band members) visibly seemed to be having fun on stage. Wearing a bright-blue party dress and matching flower in her hair, Deschanel hopped up and down, banging her tambourine gleefully as Ward played twangy guitar on the bouncier tunes, like “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?”

Some cynics may look askance at a movie actress trying to make a go of a music career, but Deschanel really can sing, as she proved in her duet with Will Ferrell of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” in “Elf.” Her voice is technically strong, with a bit of a Patsy Cline feel to it, but more importantly, it has real personality and presence.

Deschanel wrote all 10 of the original songs on the recent “Volume One” CD, and her songwriting is a winsome and unpretentious throwback to classic pop and country genres, with a bit of doo-wop here, a bit of high lonesome twang there. The less inspired of the songs seem more like enjoyable pastiches rather than fully original creations, but for the most part, it’s likable and surprisingly subtle music that rises beyond its influences.

While the full band arrangements were fun in concert, the show really became something special when the other four band members left the stage for a spell. That gave Deschanel and Ward space for a few duets that allowed the offbeat appeal of their partnership to really come through.

With Deschanel on piano and Ward on guitar, they did the wistfully gorgeous “Sentimental Heart” and a lovely cover of “You Really Gotta Hold on Me,” Deschanel’s bell-clear vocals beautifully overlaid on top of Ward’s more ragged voice.

Other covers included a slinky version of the Beatles’ “I Should Have Known Better” during the four-song encore, and a rollicking cover of Joni Mitchell’s “You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio.” The high-spirited “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?” had the band bouncing around, and Ward and Deschanel closed the main set by sitting side by side at the piano, plinking away together.

You get the sense that they like each other and that they’re happily surprised they can find such common ground together. And it’s gratifying to see that they titled their first album “Volume One.” If there’s anything Hollywood loves, it’s a sequel.

NPR Music has the entire She & Him Newport Folk Festival performance at their website here (click “Hear the Full She & Him Concert”). The accompanying article is below:

Technical difficulties didn’t deter M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel from plugging on ahead, even if that meant plugging in an electric guitar instead of an acoustic guitar. And then Newport’s infamous rain came down… hard. But that didn’t stop them either, especially when back-up vocalist and songstress Becky Stark (of Lavender Diamond) joined She & Him on stage for her sad country-swing song, “The Garden Rose.”

With only one album to its name, She & Him picked most of the material from Volume One, including a heavily rocked out version of “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?” They did play one new song, an upbeat number that will surely win over even more fans.

And in what would mark the spirit of the festival, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James joined She & Him on “Magic Trick,” a song that originally appeared on M. Ward’s Post-War.

Even before Volume One was released, She & Him was bound for intense scrutiny. Hollywood vanity albums miss more often than they hit; fortunately for actress Zooey Deschanel, she had the clever production wit of M. Ward behind her. But it turns out that she has some serious songwriting chops, too. Her sad songs of heartbreak are simple — as is her clear voice, which seems equally influenced by Patsy Cline and Dusty Springfield.

There’s a review of She & Him’s July 25th Trocadero Theater (Philadelphia) performance at phillyBurbs.com:

When doe-eyed movie star Zooey Deschanel took her place on stage next to esteemed indie-rock collaborator and musician M. Ward at the Trocadero Theater in Philadelphia, it had all the makings of a freshly-fixed peanut butter and jelly sandwich—sugary sweetness, nutty flavor and a healthy dose of unassuming sustenance all rolled into one.

The charismatic couple, who released their debut album, Volume One, under the tag She & Him, walked out to enthusiastic applause from a sold-out crowd that crammed into every nook and cranny of the old opera house. Deschanel sparkled in a glittering, disco-ball dress, complimented by a blue bow tied in her hair. In contrast, M.Ward, with the exception of a pink rose pinned to his shirt, looked understated in a navy button-up top. In fact, the duo’s wardrobe choices seemed to reflect the overall goal of the evening—let Deschanel shine.

However, the honey-toned songstress didn’t exactly look comfortable taking the spotlight. As the band opened with the country glide of “Change is Hard,” Deschanel looked stiff and awkwardly clung to her microphone stand. Despite this rigidity, the singer’s vocals melted effortlessly into a spellbinding cadence that was heart-warming and strong.

The first couple of songs, which included the whistle-laden “I Thought I Saw Your Face Today” and the beachy, swinging “I Was Made For You,” saw Deschanel transitioning from shaking a tambourine front and center to sitting demurely at a piano, stage right. The beginning of the set took on a slightly haphazard nature with a few minor sound problems that had Deschanel jokingly mumbling, “You can’t hear me? I’ve got a microphone” with her signature, dead-pan delivery. These small shortcomings proved to be ineffectual as the performers maintained a sense of humor and played their songs flawlessly.

The band then took a short hiatus and left Ward and Deschanel alone on stage to perform a stripped-down cover of Smokey Robinson’s “You Really Got a Hold on Me.” Ward stepped up to provide backing vocals as Deschanel showed her vulnerability and crooned softly underneath dim lights. The audience lightly clapped to the beat as the couple finished off the captivating duet. The two went on to perform three more songs including the warbling, dreamlike waltz of “Take it Back” with Deschanel expertly tinkering at the piano, and a new song with an old-timey feel called “Thieves Among Us.”

For the rustic groove “Got Me,” the band, complete with a pregnant bass player and a full-suited drummer, returned to the stage, and the outfit as a whole finally seemed to hit its stride. Becky Stark, from the band Lavender Diamond, bopped in the background and showcased her own strong set of pipes, fleshing out songs such as “This Is Not A Test” and “Sentimental Heart.” By the time the band played the plucky, retro-spunk tune “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?” Deschanel’s earlier inhibitions had obviously vanished as she bounced around the stage. She even pulled off some coy, shoulder-shrugging dance moves as Ward dabbled at the piano during the band’s finishing number “Sweet Darlin.” Before leaving the stage, the two demonstrated their quirkiness with a synchronized bow to the audience, met by thunderous applause from fans.

Within seconds of their departure, the audience began calling for more—the floor dwellers continued to hoot and holler as the balcony patrons stomped their feet in syncopated rhythm. Deschanel, sipping water, made her way back on stage followed closely by Ward and the rest of the band to play a three-song encore that included Ward’s own rambling number “Magic Trick” and a sway-inducing cover of Smokey Robinson’s “Bring It on Home to Me.” For their final performance She & Him brought the members of opening band, Freakwater, back on stage to join them in a camaraderie-filled cover of “Hello Stranger” by bluegrass icons Flatt and Scruggs. Deschanel, without any sort of pretense, scampered to join Stark on backing vocals and allowed the leading ladies of Freakwater to share in the limelight.

After the performers thanked the audience, Ward exited from the stage followed by a bounding Deschanel who blew kisses and clumsily curtsied, solidifying her lovability with the Philadelphia crowd.

With her syrupy voice and bewitching presence mixed with his technical know-how and creative oeuvre, Deschanel and Ward are well on their way to becoming indie-pop’s perfect pair.

Village Voice has an article mentioning Volume One in comparison with actress Scarlett Johansson’s debut album Anywhere I Lay My Head:

Anywhere I Lay My Head is inevitably going to draw comparisons to She & Him’s Volume One, another vanity-project album from a gorgeous indie-film actress. But even if Zooey Deschanel is both a more distinctive and a more technically gifted singer than Johansson, even if her “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” from Elf completely destroys Johansson’s “Brass in the Pocket” from Lost in Translation, Volume One strikes me as a much safer, less interesting record. Rather than a weirdo visionary like Sitek, Deschanel made her album alongside the amiable middlebrow indie-folk-popper M. Ward. I like Volume One just fine, but it’s a low-risk, low-reward affair, and it never strives for anything beyond a breezy utilitarian pleasantness. For all its pure goofiness, Anywhere I Lay My Head is a braver and heavier work, a slow dive into honeyed ether. It’s not a masterpiece, but it unfolds like a long, luxuriant, theatrical sigh, and I’ll take that.

Suffocated by the smell of stale popcorn and surrounded by Egyptian décor and cylindrical chandeliers, the Vista Theater in the heart of Silverlake reeked of old Hollywood. A place typically frequented for its discounted movie tickets, the aged cinema lowered its blood-red curtains Monday and Tuesday for a special concert.

She & Him, the collaboration between indie-film ingénue Zooey Deschanel and alt-folk musician/producer M. Ward, supplied the seamlessly vintage, AM-radio sound to match the historic building. The stunning Zooey clad in dark denim shorts and a pink rose in her hair resembled a young child matriculating their first recital. As soon as she opened her mouth for their opening number “Black Hole,” an alt-country ditty about misty eyes and tandem bicycles, I scoffed at what good genes she had. Not many actors-turned-singers maintain longevity, nor do they have the talent to support it; this was not the case for young Zooey. Her crystal-clear voice and slight vibrato at times evoked Rosemary Clooney or Emmylou Harris, but still carried modern appeal. As she coyly clutched her tambourine, we all watched on in awe and splendor. This was way better than Iron Man.

During the delightfully twang-filled “Change Is Hard,” Zooey’s trepidation surfaced – she was definitely out of her element. Ironically enough, she was a three-dimensional figure in front of a large screen, but seemed more confident as two-dimensional pixels and fifty feet up. As she awkwardly transitioned between songs, neither her nor M. Ward uttered a word. She precariously looked around not knowing what to do or say, and reverted to childlike idiosyncracies like clicking her heels, marching in place, and curtseying. During “I Was Made For You,” a song that could have been popular in the 50s, she even warped her voice to have a shrieky child-like quality. Was she being modest? Did she not think she could sing that well or was this simply her schtick? A gamble it may be, but it seemed slightly odd that a pretty accomplished film starlet couldn’t, well, act. Perhaps her timidity reflected her desire to keep the two worlds sacred, free from collision. She was, in fact, a movie star bred into an illustrious family, but yet their anonymous moniker did not proclaim her status. This was a risk: making music, and a highly personal one at that. But it’s ok, Zooey, you did it and left Scarlett in the dust.Zooey volleyed another one of her many skills during “Sentimental Heart” as she lowered her tambourine and took a seat at the piano. To the pleasant surprise of many, she was actually above mediocre behind the keys and seemed a little more confident now that she wasn’t centerstage. I can only imagine the chance meeting between Zooey and Matt: Zooey plays her four-track demo tape, Matt cooks up the processional Sgt. Pepper ending, and the rest is history. Stripping the band away and leaving him and her alone on stage gave way for the show’s zenith: “You Really Got a Hold On Me” popularized by Smokey Robinson was raw, intimate, and effortless. M. Ward’s countrified guitar and fragile echoes coupled with Zooey’s pristine voice mesmerized the audience to the point of permanent goosebumps. Following the songs outro of infinite “hold me”s, Zooey exhaled, relieved and excited.

Trying to kill time while M. Ward tuned his guitar, Zooey muttered “We’re gonna play a song from our record.” Zooey uncovered two more hidden talents of hers (plus one surprise) for the whistle-friendly number “I Thought I Saw Your Face Today” and the kazoo-happy “This Is Not A Test.” As the show neared its close, friend and fellow actor Jason Schwartzman jumped behind the piano for the infectious “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?” and the ebullient “Sweet Darlin’” Her bashfulness was adorable, and the audience’s furor impelled her to endearingly blurt, “This is so much fun! I love LA!” She managed to bury her nerves and just genuinely enjoy herself, and we were right there with her, popcorn kernels in hand.

She and Him’s relaxed performance at L.A.’s Vista Theatre on April 29 was neatly encapsulated within the performance of their Volume One standout, “Sentimental Heart.” The first half of the song, featuring only Zooey Deschanel’s trickling piano drops and smoky, cracked vocal yearning along with M. Ward’s minimalist, sympathetic guitar ambience, was a sepia haze of achingly fragile and enchanting country balladry.

The song’s second half, featuring a full band flowering within the song and around Deschanel’s voice, however, wasn’t quite as successful. The band was able to replicate the sounds of Z. and M.’s album, but not the soul; with the exception of the rollicking, rolling waves of Carter Family exuberance in “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?” and the punchy Phil Spector-pastiche of “Sweet Darlin’” (both of which featured actor/musician Jason Schwartzman), the musicians had a tendency to overwhelm the songs rather than support them.

The duets between Deschanel and Ward, however, were stunning, slowburn showcases for her sensuous twang and his spidery, melancholic guitar lines, most especially on the covers (a pleasant surprise, as these were the weak links in the golden chain of ’60s pop vistas on the LP). Ward’s ghostly vocals haunted “You Really Got a Hold on Me” as they swirled around Deschanel’s honeyed croon in a quiet, intense performance. Sam Cooke’s “Bring It on Home to Me” became a heartbroken call-and-response between the two, with Ward’s guitar becoming an arterial throb beneath Deschanel’s deep, numinous voice. The encore climax featured the depth-charge blues of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell on You,” with the swampmurk heat of the guitar simmering alongside Deschanel’s wrenching (her lungs, your heart) howl.

Like Volume One, She and Him’s performance was a winning, back-to-mono survey of 50 years of AM pop and country. Although it must be said that this music is better when left to she and him–the rest of the band was a bit too heavy handed with the tunes.

Variety has a (pretty positive) review of the Vista Theater show on April 28. [thanks to tugmoose in the forums for the heads-up]:

When most thesps try their hand at warbling, they usually treat live performances like they’re auditioning for the part of “Rock Star No. 1.” More often than not, they display an unconvincing false bravado, a series of poses and attitudes that never quite add up. But not Zooey Deschanel, the winsomely adorable actress who is the She of She & Him (the Him being singer-songwriter and indie-rock utilityman M. Ward). Her Monday-night perf at the Vista Theater was charmingly ingenuous — and she has both a voice and songwriting talent that mark this project as more than an actress on a lark.

Mixing songs from their recent CD, “Vol. 1″ (Merge), with some well-chosen covers, Deschanel and Ward delivered a sweet, lightly effervescent set, as refreshing as a cool breeze on a summer’s night.

The songs moved easily from the swaying country of “Change Is Hard” to “I Was Made for You’s” airy girl-group romance, the beachy harmonies of “Sweet Darlin’ ” and “This Is Not a Test” and the retrospective folk of “Sentimental Heart.” Deschanel pulled each of them off with an almost modest grace. With Ward and Mike Coykendall strumming away and her rhythmic phrasing and habit of raising and falling off the notes, Deschanel often comes across as a Laurel Canyon Laura Nyro.

Still a neophyte performer, Deschanel, to her credit, doesn’t try to hide it with actorish business. She may be a little intimidated, but she’s also enjoying it immensely. At one point, checking her mic, she let fly with an “oooh-oh” — wide eyes grew even larger and she grinned when the audience echoed it back. She doesn’t quite know what to do with her hands, and grips her tambourine like a security blanket, but she is so sweetly unguarded it turns disarming.

Performing at this level, before a live audience, is a new experience; during their duet on Smokey Robinson’s “You Really Got a Hold on Me,” she looked directly at Ward for both direction and approval. And when Deschanel lost focus and started to reach for things to say, Ward stepped in to intro the next song. But she is professional enough not to be flustered by the sound problems that kept the mix from ever finding equilibrium — something that can throw even veteran performers.

Deschanel is not just a good singer for an actress, she’s a good singer, period.