She & Him—aka the musical duo comprised of Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward—have released a new animated music video for their rendition of the famed Beach Boys song, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.”
The track comes from the duo’s newest album, Melt Away: A Tribute To Brian Wilson, which the band dropped on Friday (July 22). The cut-out animation imagines the two musicians in paper roll form, accompanied by a number of animals that sing in syncopated harmony.
Videos by American Songwriter
The new LP and tribute to Wilson marks She & Him’s seventh studio album. Wilson even features on a song with Deschanel and Ward for the album, “Do It Again.” The band has enjoyed a friendship, and mutual appreciation, with Wilson over the years and She & Him was previously a guest vocalist on his 2015 album, No Pier Pressure.
“In the spring of 2020, we started a list of our favorite Brian songs—a very long list. We chose songs without any regard to their chart performance” the duo said in a statement. “The obscure ones hit us just as hard as the more popular songs—and all are ripe for re-imagining, re-interpreting, and re-inventing. Brian writes songs of beauty and loneliness and vulnerability better than anyone—and by sequencing them next to popular songs of confidence and love and fun, it creates a more complete picture of life on earth.”
Brian Wilson also recently commented on She & Him’s Melt Away, saying, “Zooey and Matt did such mind-blowing versions of our songs. The harmonies are beautiful and right on. I love this record!”
Check out the album’s tracklist below, along with the new video.
TRACK LIST:
- Darlin’
- Wouldn’t It Be Nice
- Til I Die
- Deirdre
- Melt Away
- Good To My Baby
- Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)
- Don’t Worry Baby
- This Whole World
- Kiss Me, Baby
- Do It Again ft. Brian Wilson
- Heads You Win, Tails I Lose
- Please Let Me Wonder
- Meant For You
Photo: Elliot Lee Hazel / Oriel PR