She and Him’s Zooey Deschanel says the duo never imagined Brian Wilson duetting with them on their ‘Do It Again’ cover.
The ‘Almost Famous’ actress and musical partner M. Ward’s new record, titled ‘Melt Away: A Tribute to Brian Wilson’, features 14 cover songs infused with their own distinctive style.
But for their rendition of The Beach Boys’ 1968 hit, they couldn’t quite get the vocals right, so they asked the group’s founding member, Brian – who they’d worked with before – if he’d be up for helping them out.
In an interview with Vulture, Zooey said: “It’s funny — our plan was always for it to be a tribute to Brian. But I don’t think we thought that we should ask Brian to be on one of the tracks. We thought this will be something that we’ll send him that hopefully he’ll like.
“But then ‘Do It Again’, I’ve always loved that song. But I was like, I can’t sing this one very well, and Matt was like, Well I can’t sing this one very well. We were both unsure of our own ability to do that song. It’s got a percussive vocal top-line melody.
“It’s so Beach Boys that it’s hard to pivot from how the original was done. So we were thinking we’d ask a guest to be on it.
“And I was like, Why don’t we just ask Brian? We’ve gotten to work with him and interact with him so much, and he has a really cool team around him, too. All the folks that he collaborates with are amazing.”
The ‘Elf’ star added: “Being such a fan for so long, somehow, this passion brought us into his orbit to some degree, which is such a blessing.”
Brian, 79 – who is widely recognised as one of the most significant songwriters of his generation – is a big fan of She and Him’s new album.
The acclaimed musician described the harmonies as “beautiful” and admitted to loving the new record.
He said: “Zooey and Matt did such mind-blowing versions of our songs. The harmonies are beautiful and right on. I love this record!”
‘Melt Away: A Tribute to Brian Wilson’ is released on July 22.
The track-listing is:
1. Darlin’
2. Wouldn’t It Be Nice
3. Til I Die
4. Deirdre
5. Melt Away
6. Good To My Baby
7. Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)
8. Don’t Worry Baby
9. This Whole World
10. Kiss Me, Baby
11. Do It Again ft. Brian Wilson
12. Heads You Win, Tails I Lose
13. Please Let Me Wonder
14. Meant For You