You may not have heard of She & Him but, chances are, you will have at least have heard them as Zooey Deschanel continues her one-woman attempt to saturate the indie film industry, peppering soundtracks left, right and centre as she goes. However, putting any feelings towards the doe-eyed new girl aside, it is impossible to not fall a little in love with her as she seems to wander her way through the classics with the help M. Ward. From the opening lines of ‘The Christmas Waltz’, it is clear that this isn’t a typical jingly, gaudy Christmas CD and thankfully the album is lacking in the gospel choir/small children department so heavily relied upon by others.
The relaxed atmosphere in many of the tracks is unlikely to have you dancing around the living room in an ironic festive jumper, but it’s certainly easy enough listening for a wintry afternoon. Equally, some of the livelier tracks may go so far as to inspire some mild head bopping, for the truly adventurous, so the album isn’t without some form of variety. She & Him can be applauded for even attempting to bring their own touch to such well-known holiday staples, and are at times relatively successful in creating both a soulful and cheerful rendition to many of the overplayed originals. In particular ‘Sleigh Ride’ is certainly worth a listen, and highlights the talents of the hideously undervalued ‘Him’ (M.Ward) of the pair.

However, in places their attempts to maintain originality comes at a cost. Their frankly bizarre rendition of ‘Baby, it’s Cold Outside’ is certainly unique, if not slightly creepy… swapping the male and female parts, and significantly speeding the pace, results in a hectic scene of desperation.

This collection of covers has a fatal flaw: it is impossible to listen to without drawing comparisons to the greats. As hard as they may try, ‘Blue Christmas’  falls flat without Elvis’ signature drawl, and a Beach Boys-less ‘Little Saint Nick’ is two minutes of melancholy vocals that are a far cry from its predecessor. Although perfectly inoffensive in itself, A Very She & Him Christmas isn’t a very musically interesting album. Given the plethora of Christmas compilations available, this is unlikely to become a seasonal staple, and probably won’t be top of the pile to be played in shopping centres starting next Winter… But if you’re desperately searching for some attempted variation, it’s worth a listen.