Guest post by Nathan Arizona
There might be no better way to spend a lazy summer than on a tropical island where you can sit around filling buckets with sand, always be “taking it slow” and drift off to sleep at night in “a little hip shack.”
This is Brian Wilson’s island we’re talking about, so there might be some emotional turmoil mixed in. But the mellow duo She and Him will be there if any waters needs calming in this metaphorical Eden.
“On the Island” is a song by all three of them from Brian’s final solo album, 2015’s “No Pier Pressure.” He might have been remembering his old days by the ocean with the full complement of Beach Boys. At times “No Pier Pressure” feels like a continuation of the 2012 album “That’s Why God Made the Radio,” a rare late-Beach Boys success due at least partly to Brian’s rare participation.
She and Him is a successful indie-pop duo with a vintage aspect. They are Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward. She’s an actress who has appeared in a number of films, including “500 Days of Summer” and “Elf,” where she sang “Baby It’s Cold Outside” with Will Ferrell. She starred in the TV sitcom “The New Girl” a few years ago. Her character’s blend of sweet good looks and social awkwardness led critics to describe her as “adorkable.”
Ward had been a well-regarded indie folk-rock guitarist for almost a decade before teaming with Deschanel. He was writing the soundtrack for a Deschanel movie called “The Go-Getter” when the director suggested they would make a good team and should collaborate on a song to accompany the final credits. Paste magazine called the debut album that followed the best of 2008.
She and Him followed their work on “On the Island” with their own album of Wilson songs, “Melt Away: A Tribute to Brian Wilson,” in 2022. “We chose songs without any regard to their chart performance,” Deschanel said. “The obscure ones hit us just as hard as the more popular songs. … Brian writes songs of beauty and loneliness and vulnerability better than anyone,”
Here’s a video from the recording session for “On the Island.”
“Melt Away” included “This Whole World,” a relatively complex, well-regarded song from the 1970 Beach Boys album “Sunflower.” Carl Wilson sang lead vocals on the original.
“Do It Again” was a 1970 Beach Boys single, seen as a throwback to the group’s surf music days. It reached No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the British charts. Brian recorded it again for his 1995 solo album “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times.” He sang the tune with She and Him on the “Melt Away” album.
