The timelessly vintage indie-pop of She & Him will join a bill that already includes such A-list chefs as Ludo Lefebvre, Suzanne Goin and Mark Peel, among many others, performing a headlining set Sept. 5 at the Los Angeles Times' Celebration of Food & Wine. The musical pairing of Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward, who recently played the Hollywood Bowl with the Swell Season and the Bird & the Bee, are said to be playing a full set at the all-day Labor Day weekend affair.

The event, hosted by our co-workers at the Los Angeles Times Media Group, will run from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the Paramount Pictures Studio lot. General admission tickets start at $55, and there is a VIP option for $125.Times food editor Russ Parsons will lead discussions with culinary experts and chefs, and there will be cooking and mixologist demonstrations. 

There's even good news for those with more discerning palates: A press release touts the presence of craft beer, although breweries are not yet listed. If there's a downside to a date with food nerds and She & Him  -- beyond worrying about one's budget, of course -- it means some of us on Team Pop & Hiss will probably be spending a Sunday with our co-workers. 

This isn't the first time She & Him has catered to the epicurean crowd. In March, the act appeared at a party hosted by Rachael Ray at the South by Southwest industry conference in Austin, Tex. She & Him has been touring in support of its recently released "Volume 2," which saw the act gradually and subtly adding more symphonic and harmonic flourishes to its wistful Southern California pop. 

The polite food-focused studio backdrop should suit She & Him well. Even when the band turns it up, such as when it tackles Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven" or Ward's own "Magic Trick," it's still an elegant sound that seems fit for smiling bluebirds and a skip down Disneyland's Main Street. She & Him is winding down its promotion of "Volume 2," and as of now its only other California date is Oct. 17 as part of San Francisco's Treasure Island festival.

In another era, the Swell Season’s performance of “Falling Slowly” at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday night would have been accompanied by 17,000 Bic lighters glowing in the summer air. 

The ballad catapulted the Swell Season, the Irish/Czech duo comprised of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, into the American mainstream when they won the Academy Award for best original song in the indie film “Once.” It’s a song tailor-made for heavy petting, and on Sunday night it certainly pleased the crowd.

But by that point – nearly three hours into the show, part of KCRW's World Festival -- the masses didn’t need much prompting. On an evening also featuring openers She & Him and the Bird & the Bee, the Swell Season walked onto the stage after the other two male/female duos (and backing bands) had rolled out a red carpet of lush, bouncy songs that filled the Bowl with good spirit.

“Have a glass of Chardonnay for me,” requested the Bird and the Bee singer Inara George as she greeted the crowd, accurately capturing its tastes. Wearing a sparkling flapper’s dress and offering sophsiticated cocktail pop music, George and musical partner Greg Kurstin, accompanied by a seven-piece band,   delivered a sound that recalled Burt Bacharach’s adult-oriented songcraft. As well, they played two songs from the Bird and the Bee’s recent tribute album to Hall & Oates—”Sara Smile” and “I Heard It on the Radio”-- which set the crowd into nostalgia mode.

She & Him, the project of actress Zooey Deschanel and guitarist/songwriter M. Ward, offered a catchier fare, one that’s steeped in Brill Building pop and 1970s-era country music. Deschanel proved herself more than merely an actress with a singing hobby; her voice was powerful and confident, especially during the band’s final song, a take on Screaming Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell on You.” 

The Swell Season’s set pushed up the volume from the start. At times Hansard sang so hard it seemed like his eyes might pop out of his head. 

One of the highlights, though, was Irglova’s solo turn in front of the mike. Strumming an acoustic guitar, she dedicated a gorgeous, nuanced version of “I Have Loved You Wrong” to the actor Colin Farrell, who presented the Swell Season with their Academy Award at the 2008 ceremony. 

 

The nine-piece band crafted a sound that blended classic ‘60s soul – Hansard’s got a voice to rival Van Morrison’s and Otis Redding’s – with a brand of blue collar rock that suggested Bruce Springsteen. The Boss, in fact, wrote the final song that the Swell Season performed: “Drive All Night.” It perfectly captured what the Swell Season does best: conveying a passionate honesty that cuts through pretense and tackles pure emotion. 

-- Randall Roberts

Photos: Glen Hansard, top right, and Marketa Irglova. The Bird and the Bee's Inara George, center, and She & Him's M. Ward, bottom left, with Zooey Deschanel. Credits: Gina Ferazzi  / Los Angeles Times

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She & Him's "Volume Two" was only released four months ago, but for being a relatively new album, it's one that feels steeped in nostalgia. The light orchestrations bring a genial upbeat touch to even the most heartbreaking of lyrics, and over the course of two albums California natives M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel have gradually brought a sunny, decidedly West Coast-feel to delicately symphonic retro-pop tunes.

"Volume Two" comes with its own love letter to California in "Home," a piano stroll accentuated with handclaps, swooning background vocals, crisp guitar notes and keyboard lushness. It arrives near the end of an album that's full of sweetly nuanced arrangements built around Deschanel's conversationally cheery vocals. A take on NRBQ's forgotten "Ridin' in My Car" is built for a windows-down cruise, and "In the Sun" is a three-minute call-and-response keyboard frolic that wouldn't sound of out place on Disneyland's Main Street.

"My earliest music memories were driving around and being in the back seat of my parents' car and listening to music," Deschanel said. "I feel like I associate music with California and the sun and a particular sort of feeling. It’s something that’s important to me to express when I write music. When we record, California is definitely on our minds."

On Sunday, She & Him will perform for the first time at the Hollywood Bowl, joining a bill that also includes local electro-pop outfit the Bird and the Bee and acoustic romancers the Swell Season. The classic Hollywood venue should suit Deschanel and Ward just fine, as this is music built for a Los Angeles sunset. 

To mark the occasion, Deschanel and Ward spoke to Pop & Hiss for a few minutes last week to discuss some of their favorite California songs. Deschanel went with a theme, choosing songs only with California in the title, whereas Ward, who grew up in Ventura County, opted for songs that evoked a certain time and place.

Song: Dick Dale's "Misirlou"

Ward had the surf-rock staple at the top of his list."I picked songs that reminded me of California," Ward said. "It’s a very personal, subjective thing that pick songs that remind you of where you came from." 

Dale's arrangement of the Greek pop standard became the artist's signature song. "That Dick Dale song takes me to the beach near where I grew up, near Point Mugu," Ward said. "I don’t know what year that was, but it’s such an incredible song by an incredible guitar player. I hope people still feel like Dick Dale is the heart of surf music. People now are making surf music more modern, and I really hope he’s not forgotten."

Song: Mark Eric's "California Home."

Mark Eric, California_Home

Deschanel had Ward stumped with this pick. "I've never heard of him," Ward said of the little-known L.A. native who recorded a light, Beach Boys-influenced pop album in the late '60s. "He’s got a lot of great harmonies," Deschanel said. 

"California Home" tracks a homesick cross-country flight back to Los Angeles. "It’s kind of about being away from home, and thinking about California when you’re not in California," Deschanel said. "That’s sort of the theme of my picks."

The setting at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival can do wonders for certain acts. On a pristine green desert polo field surrounded by palm trees, Coachella is California at its most storybook. She & Him, the pairing of actress Zooey Deschanel and guitar slinger M. Ward, was jubilantly sunny on the outdoor stage, a trip down a fantasy memory lane that could serve as the sort of good-time pop t hat scores Disneyland's Main Street.

Even when She & Him gets tough, it's still a sound fit for sharing a shake at a soda fountain, as evidenced by the band's tackling of Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven." M. Ward can riff with the best of them, but with She & Him, he uses his talents to frame a warm backdrop for the sweet-voiced Deschanel. For the largely young Coachella crowd, "Why Don't You Let Me Stay Here" could have been the kind of bouncy, sing-along tune that Mom and Dad turned up when they drove down PCH. Deschanel wasn't nearly as interested in the song's pouty lyrics as she was its upbeat, jangly guitar skip, as she opened the song by doing jumping jacks with a tambourine.

Back again as they have on recent shows by the Chapin Sisters, She & Him's live show continues to mature, as backing harmonies and counter-melodies show She & Him has more than a few tricks to its name. Yet this is still retro-pop at its most swoon-worthy. "Why do I always want to sock it you hard," Deschanel sang, and one could easily imagine the bluebirds on her shoulder making angry faces.

--Todd Martens

Zooey Deschanel of the band She & Him performs during the first day of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., Friday, April 16, 2010. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

A few songs into She & Him's Thursday night set at the El Rey, actress-turned-singer Zooey Deschanel had an apology to make. All the sad songs, said Deschanel, were loaded up top, and it wasn't her intention to start the gig by bumming out the crowd. 

But even when She & Him does sad, it comes with a side of sunny. Singing "Thieves," from the just-released Merge Records album "Volume Two," Deschanel was neither gritty nor overly glum when she declared that "a love like ours is terrible to lose." When it comes to her vocals, Deschanel is more matter-of-fact and resigned -- an extremely conversational take that acts as if the last two decades of diva showboating and reality TV over-singing never happened. 

Yet now two albums into a three-plus-year career, Deschanel showed Thursday night that she's more assured than ever, bringing in glimpses of upper-register shading, and her letting her notes drag and fade around M. Ward's warm guitar work. With the Chapin Sisters providing backing harmonies and added keyboard textures, "Thieves" was timelessly vintage, featuring orchestral swells that split the difference between heartache and what could have been the showcase cut of a hand-drawn Disney film. 

Portland, Ore.-based artist M. Ward plays to Deschanel's strengths, keeping the arrangements gently nuanced. For all the talk of She & Him as a retro-pop band, the act has gradually taken subtly adventurous steps over its two albums, using girl group frames and country dalliances as a base. "Me and You" was all acoustic candlelight, while "Lingering Still" flirted with a bossa nova groove and M. Ward's own "Magic Trick" was made-over into a Herman Hermit's-styled ditty. 

Actors nursing dreams of musical glory owe Zooey Deschanel gratitude: With "Volume One," Deschanel and M. Ward's lovable 2008 debut as She & Him, the quirky indie-film star handily refuted the widespread notion that success on the silver screen precludes success in the recording studio. Singing songs she wrote (plus a few smartly chosen covers) over crafty retro-pop arrangements by Ward, Deschanel revealed not only a voice worth hearing but a creative sensibility as complete as any non-moonlighter's.

That sensibility remains strong on "Volume Two," which offers 13 more tunes that sound like they could've come from a collection of forgotten '60s-era B-sides. In "Thieves" Deschanel gives her voice a melancholy country lilt as Ward pairs shimmering acoustic guitars with mournful oldies-radio strings.

"Home" is a pitch-perfect piece of Carole King-style piano pop, and a version of Skeeter Davis' "Gonna Get Along Without You Now" has a sweetly shuffling country-soul groove.

As impressively specific as those sonic ideas are, though, Deschanel's songwriting here is less distinctive than it was on "Volume One." Too many of the tracks bleed together in a well-appointed mush of major-minor melodies and hand-me-down lyrics about the inevitability of heartbreak. And when the songs do make an impression, as in "Don't Look Back" and "In the Sun," it's often because they're overloaded with the kind of kiddie-culture cutesiness that Deschanel the actress always cuts with a dose of grown-up sarcasm.

 -- Mikael Wood

She & Him 
"Volume Two" 
(Merge) 
Two stars

The romantic comedy “(500) Days of Summer” doesn’t come with a parental advisory. It looks and feels harmless and whimsical enough, even coming complete with a mid-movie dance sequence to Hall & Oates’ early ‘80s hit “You Make My Dreams.”

But don’t be fooled -- “(500) Days of Summer” has the potential of inflicting lifelong damage to young music geeks. Witness an early scene in the film between Zooey Deschanel’s Summer and Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Tom. She a compendium of adorable quirks (she name-checked Belle & Sebastian in her high school yearbook!), and he a music-obsessed twentysomething -- the guy who pulls out the Clash and the Pixies at karaoke parties but needs significant prodding to even attend one.

Sharing an elevator, Tom is too shy, too flustered and insecure to say hello to Summer. No matter – she recognizes that he’s blasting the Smiths -- a cinematic signal for a romantic intellectual -- and observes that Tom has good taste in music.

That is how we know this is a fairy tale, as it’s a movie moment that can forever doom those of a certain disposition. “Those who are expecting someone to hear them listening to the Smiths in an elevator?” Deschanel laughs after being told of my fear. “That’s funny.”

Dear young male music fans,

When you're listening to the Smiths in a public place, and standing helplessly next to Zooey Deschanel in an elevator, she will A) not care what you are listening to, and B) not try to strike up a conversation while you are wearing your headphones and looking the other way. Nor will Natalie Portman ask you to listen to the Shins while you're filling out medical forms. You are welcome. Enjoy the trailer.

-Todd Martens

P.S.

People we trust have vouched for "500 Days of Summer" as a relatively honest romantic comedy -- one with a killer dance sequence, apparently. Additionally, The Playlist has done a fine job of running down the music in "500 Days," even having director Marc Webb discuss each song in the film. And the soundtrack, for the record, looks to be a strong one, with music from indie buzz act the Temper Trap, as well as the Smiths, and dialogue that references Belle & Sebastian. The film is due July 17.

M. Ward's imagination roams free in Portland, where small-scale creativity thrives amid the corporate pop business' decline.

Reporting from Portland, Ore. — "We don't use the word 'grande' here," said the barista at Albina Press, one of the latte-obsessed Pacific Northwest's many shrines to the perfectly pulled cup. "That's a proprietary term of the Starbucks company. Do you mean 'large'?"

While I tried to sweet-talk my way out of a bitter drink, Matt Ward, who'd suggested we meet here, scanned the coffeehouse for a table. Every spot in the large, airy room was taken by someone hunched over a laptop or a book. This cross section of students, unidentified "creatives" and home-office refugees would not tolerate the noise of a journalist quizzing a musician.

So we sat outside, pulling our sweater sleeves down against the January damp. Ward didn't seem to mind. The 35-year-old recording artist, better known by his nickname, M. Ward, had been on his own laptop when I'd come in -- just another independent contractor pursuing his bliss.