I’ve been listening to Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward’s She & Him since the release of their debut record in 2008, and I got to see them perform live once in 2010 at The Fifth Ave Theater in Seattle, WA. Their body of work includes 3 albums of originals, two Christmas albums, a covers album, and a Tribute to Brian Jones of The Beach Boys. I am drawn to She & Him for their songwriting, but since their last album of original material was released in 2013, I’ve been on the ropes about how vocal I can be about my fandom for them. Zooey and Ward are simply put two of my favorite songwriters of all time. I find myself listening to She & Him when things get bad, and I need to put something on that I know will make me feel better. I brought my son to see that She & Him concert at the 5th Ave when he was in grade school, and he grew up listening to them to the point where one of the first songs he ever had memorized was “Sentimental Heart,” and he grew up dancing to and asking to hear “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?” on repeat. They are a part of my life in a way that I can’t quantify in a concert review article, but it is important that you, as the reader of said article, know I am not a casual listener.
Opening the show was songstress Jordana Nye, who performs under the single word moniker Jordana. I knew little to nothing about her until I ran into a work associate 20 minutes before curtain, and the first words out of his mouth were him praising Jordana and that he was equally excited to see her as he was to see She & Him. Accompanied by keyboardist and songwriter in his own right Nick Waters, Jordana’s stripped-down presentation of her songs let her vocals and the beauty of the songs cut through the atmosphere of the Moore Theater in a way that a full band representation might have muddied. After her opening number, “Burning Me Down,” she brought Zooey and M Ward out on stage to perform her song “Like a Dog” with her. Jordana and Zooey put on matching 1950s-style jumpers they joked about having and then proceeded to tear through the jaunty, cute little number with dog choreography and laughter as they performed. I’m not sure if the sit-in this early in the show was a calculated way to get the audience on Jordana’s side right out of the gate, but if it was, it worked. Everyone was all ears for her next song, which she announced as being brand new. It takes a special kind of artist to play new songs during an opening set, and knowing this, I was even more captivated by the rest of her 45-minute set. Although I was unfamiliar with her songs, Jordana impressed me with her singing and the couple of violin pieces she performed. Her voice is gorgeous and her songs haunting and melancholy in the most complimentary sense. She closed out her set with the Blossom Dearie song “Somebody New,” which she and Nick have recorded together, with her on vocals and Nick accompanying her on solo piano. I am a die-hard Blossom Dearie fan, and this cinched the deal on me becoming a Jordana fan. 10/10, will attend again.
It had been so long since I had seen She & Him perform that I didn’t know what to expect. Because all too often I put them on to cheer me up or as a treat that I somehow have earned for myself, I forget just how much their original songs mean to me. When they took the stage and launched into “Thieves,” I instantly got choked up and almost forgot why I was there, standing stunned for a few moments before I began moving through the auditorium to get pictures of Zooey and Ward doing what they do best. I didn’t know this at the time, but Zooey has been very vocal in the last few months about how she identifies more as a songwriter than as an actress, and that she and Ward have been working on new material and are pushing forward to become active artists as She & Him again. The concert didn’t come across like a nostalgia act or presentation of “the best of,” but more like a love letter to who they are and what they love doing. Zooey has said that she has to relearn her piano parts when she goes on the road, and you’d never guess it from the precision of how the songs are performed.
She & Him have an exuberance about them. When you’re watching the two of them play, it’s almost celebratory in fashion. Their band is composed of Bass Player Jason Berk (who also played mandolin on a number of songs) and Drummer John Perrin, who both sing harmonies that round out the songs in the most extraordinary way. Both session players, they excel at playing the parts on the albums as well as capture the feel of the songs in a way that doesn’t just recreated live in an accurate manner, you can almost forget that you’re listening to someone playing on songs they didn’t craft themselves. Zoey effortlessly switched between Fender Rhodes and Ukulele while M switched between different acoustic and electric guitars throughout the night, creating a dynamic evening of peaks and valleys. Eight songs into the show, the band left the stage, and Zoey and Ward performed a three-song duet of covers with one another. Their back-and-forth between songs is charming, and they know that their audience loves them and is there to hang on their every word. When the band returned, they weren’t even halfway through their show. Ward’s solos cook, and he’s the best kind of guitar player, where you can feel like you’re watching a high-wire act as he’s taking chances and improvising searing passages over well-worn territory. The entire band’s musicianship is extraordinary, and watching them play songs I love and knowing there is more to come makes me excited to be a massive fan of this duo.
Songs like “ Black Hole”, “Take it Back” and “Sentimental Heart” all mean so much to me. When they played “This is Not a Test,” I started crying and thanked the darkness of the auditorium for hiding my tears. Unbeknownst to me, “I Thought I Saw Your Face Today” is a TikTok hit. Before the show, I noticed a lot more young faces in the audience than the last time I saw She & Him and chalked it up to the long-lasting popularity of Zooey’s TV show “New Girl”. The audience reaction to “I Thought…” getting played was immediate and changed the energy in the room. I only found out a few days later, when a younger coworker of mine told me about the viral video of their 2008 single. When Jordana returned to sing backing a few songs later, the rest of the audience and I were over the moon in our delight for the gifts the band was bestowing upon us. By the time they ended the set with Jason Berk switching to keys and Zooey playing bass for their first big hit, “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?” The clapping that went along was infectious, and Jordana soloing on violin along with M Ward’s guitar brought the house down.
For their encore, I couldn’t quite figure out what I thought they would do before Ward launched into Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven,” a staple of She & Him shows for as long as they’ve been playing shows. Jordana returned to the stage one last time for an incredible version of “Sweet Darlin’” with dueling solos, audience hand clapping, and an over the top conclusion. Zooey has said in interviews that a new She & Him record is in the works, and after seeing this show, I’ve never been so proud to be a fan of this band that is contributing incredible heartfelt songs to the great American songbook. I’ll be at the next show with all the new songs memorized and ready to sing along with the rest of their well-deserved growing audience.
