Wowie Zooey
She’s a famous actress and style icon, but Zooey Deschanel would rather be known as one half of country-pop duo She And Him. She talks about juggling cinema and music and turns a bit nervous when conversation turns to famous lookalike Katy Perry.
Ed Power, 19 May 2010
Zooey Deschanel is at a loss for words. “Oooh...Hmmm,” muses the singer/actress, best known for her eyelash batting turn in last year’s smash rom-com-for-people-who-hate-rom-coms, 500 Days Of Summer. “You know... I don’t really have too much of an opinion on that.”
We’re talking about her fellow Los Angelino and distant musical rival Katy Perry, to whom Deschanel, as big-blue-eyes adorable in real life as on screen, bears a frankly uncanny resemblance. Which is ironic considering how far apart they are as musicians – where Perry is all faux-lesbian come-ons and lollipop sucking Lolita-isms, Deschanel deals in sepia-tinted thrift-store pop, channelling artists such as Sam Cooke and Doris Day.
Has it been pointed out she has a lookalike no less famous than herself? Zooey doesn’t know what to say.
“I mean...,” stutters Deschanel, her verbal dexterity temporarily deserting her. “Um... You know... I don’t really...”
Oo-kay. We were just asking, is all. Happily, she’s far more comfortable discussing her new LP, a collaboration with Portland mooch-rocker Matt Ward released under the She And Him moniker. As was the case with the pair’s 2006 debut, the new album, entitled Volume Two (the first record was - quelle surprise – Volume One), has the feel of a recently unearthed treasure from the early ‘70s. Singing from the back of her throat in a little gal lost coo, Deschanel evokes the vintage ennui of Carole King whilst Ward taps Phil Spector via doo-wop arrangements and patented wall o’ fuzz production.
“I gravitate towards older sounds for a number of reasons,” reflects Deschanel. “First of all, I like them. But also, I like the idea of not being too influenced by stuff that's happening now.”
She sounds like an old soul trapped in a young body.
“When you listen to old music, you’re not listening to it in the context of the time,” she offers. “Like, when I’m listening to Sam Cooke, I’m not listening to it in the time of Sam Cooke, if you know what I mean. I feel you can listen to it purely for the music and the lyric. If I listened to something that came out yesterday... there’s the extra context of it being brand new. In a way, that creates a bias. I want it to be about the music. I’m trying to keep my influences pure.”
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