She & Him - Volume 3

After two highly infectious albums of sweet country, ‘Brill Building’ pop, and folk ditties the highly workable sounding duo of She & Him featuring actor Zooey Deschanel on vocals have done it again, with their third studio release of original material Volume 3. On this new release the duo have gone even further in the pop direction than previously with a strong Brill Building girl group influence on songs such as “I’ve Got Your Number, Son” and “Somebody Sweet To Talk To”, and beautiful flowing melodies as seen on the gorgeous “Turn to White”. The standout for me on this album is undoubtedly Zooey’s vocals, which sound as good as ever whether it be in the form of her singing solo, harmonising, or assisted with her own overdubbed backing vocals. M. Ward is featured less on this album vocals wise, but his melodic guitar playing is as present as ever, with his less is more guitar style fitting nicely in the background and just doing enough to contribute to what are simple but effective songs. Even though this album is the most poppy of their releases so far, it definitely does not lack in quality songs and singing, and in my opinion holds up well alongside Volume’s 1, and 2. This album is perfect to be listened to on a winter’s day, or evening and my advice for listening would be to sit back and enjoy with a glass of red by a warm fire.

A-

- Sam