SHAZAM

Being half of She & Him allows Zooey Deschanel to do what she does best as a film star: act utterly adorable alongside a quiet, talented male character. Her co-star in this case is M. Ward, who produces the band’s second album and frames Deschanel’s voice with a Phil Spector-sized pile of instruments. Whether they’re copping the Brill Building sound or tackling ‘70s AM pop, the two always have nostalgia on the mind, and these 13 tracks seem to hail from an imaginary, sepia-toned world in which Richard Carpenter is king and Ron Burgundy is on the tube. ~ Andrew Leahey, Rovi