She and Him - 'A Very She and Him Christmas' review
She & Him's output so far has been pop-music by numbers - a how-to manual in how to craft innocent, romantic, often life-affirming pop music. Both "Volume One" and "Volume Two" showcase Deschanel's angelic vocal melodies and M. Ward's clear grasp of production and musicality. Those same angelic vocals appear here, as does the simple but well-executed production, but the result here does not bear such a high quality mark. In fact it is so sweet and lovely an album that one might be moved to use the tag 'twee'.
Every now and then, genuine pop talent decides to put out a Christmas album, and sometimes it works to perfection. Sufjan Stevens' "Songs for Christmas" box set is listenable any time of year, if only for heart-breaking but stunning original compositions like 'That Was the Worst Christmas Ever'. We see no original compositions of any kind here, and no attempt to play with the traditional formula of a Christmas album: it is happy, joyous and celebratory of Christmas - almost to the point of exhaustion.
This being said, from the start, it is clear that this is musically a very good album. Its general instrumentation and performance make for a happy, calming, easy-going record, but that's exactly what you'd expect. Ward's production layers the different sounds very well to form a coherent whole, the subtle acoustic guitars accompanying the vocals, piano and the occasional good guitar solo beautifully as a coherent whole, but the duo have played it extremely safe. The tracks are faithful adaptions of mostly well-known Christmas songs, with the occasional tweak on the backing sounds (sleigh bells very much included) from Ward, and the welcome guitar work. Deschanel vocally does not put a foot wrong throughout, and some of the songs fare better than the originals. 'Silver Bells' for instance, is given the stripped-down treatment and certainly sounds better on the ear than the unbearable earlier versions: I might be saying that this is the best version of 'Silver Bells' out there, but I can't account for how much of a compliment that is. 'Sleigh Ride', also, fares ever so slightly better than most versions you hear in shops around Christmas, but does nothing to make the song itself any less cringe worthy. Nevertheless, if you like this kind of Christmas music, you are bound to love this album. There's no denying it is a well-executed Christmas record, and it will no doubt bring a smile to a lot of faces when playing in the background around the dinner table, but with talent like this and traditionally well-established songs like these, it was always going to be.
So if you like conventional Christmas music and don't mind hearing some of the same songs again, and you're a She & Him fan, you might want to pick this up, as you will get another showcase of Deschanel's lovely vocal talent, Ward's effortless production, and the pair's evident musicianship. There isn't anything here that will stand the test of time, where their previous albums might. This is exactly the kind of record you would expect a Christmas album by them to be, and nothing more than that.