Originating as an email exchange between actress Zooey Deschanel and serial collaborator M. Ward, She & Him is ultimately the result of secret demos the Elf, Almost Famous and Weeds star had been tucking away for years. Deschanel's folksy love songs match perfectly with Ward's penchant for AM radio's glory days, as the duo pair delicate and often sparse arrangements with the actress's soft near-croon. Their debut, Volume One, sounds like a lost relicendearingly timid yet disarmingly honest.
Wed., July 30, 9 p.m., 2008