It sometimes seems like everyone who’s become famous in one artistic field automatically thinks they can master others. How many actors do we see putting out albums, or musicians thinking they can act? That said, they’re certainly not all of them bad, and I’ve recently obtained some new albums by actor-turned-musicians whom I like.
The band Rilo Kiley was founded by former child actors Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett, and while they broke up a few years ago, they recently put out a collection of rarities.
The other band in question, She & Him, includes Zooey Deschanel as the “She.” Jenny and Zooey have worked together, notably on Jenny’s solo album Acid Tongue, on which Zooey provided backing vocals. They’re also both around the same age, wear their hair in bangs, and pretty much epitomize cuteness.
Their voices are fairly different, however; Jenny’s sometimes shows tinges of soul and country, while Zooey’s…well, really doesn’t sound like anybody else’s, and isn’t that much like her speaking voice either.
Anyway, the cleverly named RKives is a pretty typical odds-and-ends collection, including both quality songs that hadn’t previously been released for whatever reason as well as different versions of ones that were on albums. “Draggin’ Around” is essentially a prototype for “Breakin’ Up,” but much slower and lower-key than the finished product. There’s a remix of “Dejalo,” the song in which Jenny shows how bad she is at Spanish pronunciation (although I’m one to talk). The demo for “Rest of My Life,” sung by Blake, has some interesting instrumentation. By the way, I remember seeing some list comparing keywords that people of different genders and sexual orientations used in profiles, and apparently Rilo Kiley was really popular for lesbians. I also just recently saw praise of Jenny from Kristen Stewart, who is often suspected of being a lesbian, although it hasn’t been proven. Not that any of that really matters; it’s just kind of an interesting sidenote.
As for the new She & Him album, simply called Volume 3 , it’s quite pleasant listening. Most of the songs haven’t really stuck in my head as some of their previous ones have, but then I’ve only listened to it three times so far. I think “Together” definitely stands a chance of eventually fitting into that category. In addition to Zooey’s own compositions, the band tends to do a good job at picking cover songs that fit her voice, here including the standard “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me” and Blondie’s “Sunday Girl.”
Source:
http://vovatia.wordpress.com/2013/05/24/the-cute-invasion/