Zooey Deschanel Gets More Adventurous on She and Him's 'Volume Two'

Zooey Deschanel was right at home making 'Volume Two,' the second album she and M. Ward have recorded as She and Him, and Ward says her comfort shows.

"She's a lot more confident in everything and I think that comes across on the record," Ward tells Spinner. "I feel this new record has more emotional depth to it."

What accounts for that increased depth and confidence? Spending time on the road, Ward says.

"Having all these live performances under her belt, I feel like she approaches the microphone with more confidence and when you are doing what you do with more confidence, it stands to reason that you're going to start experimenting more," he says.

The experimentation shows through in more adventurous songwriting and more lush song arrangements. Deschanel handles the former, and Ward takes care of the latter.

"Zooey writes the songs, she records them on her computer and e-mails me those demos and that's when I begin to start thinking about arrangements and production," Ward says.

Ward's approach to fleshing out the demos is a deliberate one that requires plenty of time to listen over and over.

"If you listen to a demo enough, your mind starts to fill in the blanks of production," he says. "Most demos only have a voice and a piano or a voice and a guitar. Sometimes you'll hear a song on the radio -- it's normally older music -- that reminds me of the demo that's in my head, and a lot of times that'll inspire a direction for, say, the drum sound, or what kind of percussion we'll be using."

'Volume Two' is due March 23 on Merge.