She & Him + The Chapin Sisters - Koko, London – 7/7/10
4/5
By: Nicola Dellow
Despite releasing two albums in the last couple of years, She & Him only found their way to London for the first time this month, ready for their appearance at the Matt Groening’s ATP Festival. Perhaps this absence should not be surprising – after all, the band is a collaboration between Oregon-based musical dynamo M. Ward and Hollywood star Zooey Deschanel. This rare opportunity to see the duo perform led British fans who have enjoyed their enchanting blend of indie folk and nostalgic pop to flock to Camden’s Koko for their first chance to see the duo in action.
The evening began with The Chapin Sisters’ harmonic Americana. Perfectly pitched, they held the crowd’s attention with their soulfully arranged harmonies and understated country aesthetic. One sister short, they were later joined on stage by Deschanel, who deftly complimented their already atmospheric performance. They would return the favour by providing backing vocals for She & Him when they took to the stage to perform their own meticulously crafted songs.
Considering the ad hoc nature of She & Him’s existence, piecing together songs from different corners of the USA, their live act is infused with a unique chemistry. Unrefined and unrestrained, it was a surprisingly honest performance for a band so used to the protection of studio walls. Accompanying this raw sound was an underlying playfulness that saw them stamping feet and hammering away at keyboards. Deschanel made even the most melancholy of her lyrics sound like they were written ‘in the sun’.
At their most energetic, She & Him looked like they were having as much fun as the audience of lovesick indie kids in checked shirts who pined after the singer and wished they could be the guitarist. Deschanel bounced around the stage, tambourine in hand while M. Ward anchored the performance with an air of cool nonchalance. Their enthusiasm for the music left little time for banter, not that they would have been able to make themselves heard over the continuous cries of ‘I love you Zooey’(again, largely from the boys in checked shirts).
Their packed set traversed both albums before taking a detour from their recorded work with a handful of well selected covers. After two encores, they closed with a stripped back version of Screamin Jay Hawkins’ ‘I Put A Spell On You’, showcasing Deshanel’s vocal prowess. Indeed, it was when the songs were at their most minimal that Deschanel’s vocals took centre stage, laden with all the emotive quality you would expect from an actress of her calibre.
While the band may have enjoyed playing in ‘the tallest venue with the largest disco ball’, the audience may not have appreciated Koko’s notoriously bad sound quite as much. Unfazed, however, the band performed with presence and panache. It was a set which should prove any cynics of this star studded collaboration wrong; an utterly triumphant gig that cemented their status as a captivating live band.
Artists in this article: She and Him
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