She & Him were brought together during a movie production and decided to record this charming collection of indie folk and sweet weepy country. It was on the set of 'The Go-Getter' that actress Zooey Deschanel was introduced to singer/songwriter M. Ward so that they could record a song together for the closing credits. They bonded over their similar musical tastes and Deschanel shared her own songs with him. Deschanel says: "I always have loved music, ever since I was really little. I just loved to sing. I can't really explain it, except maybe--and this is going to sound really stupid-- when I would listen to a song it would make me more excited than anything else could. It would fill me with every amazing, wonderful feeling. It gave me so much joy to be able to listen to music. When I got a little bit older I wanted to play piano-- that's all I wanted to do. I remember learning how to play a blues progression on the xylophone in music class and thinking 'This is the greatest thing I've ever learned' ... I always thought I would be able to sing and act, but at a certain point, it became difficult for me to share the music part. So I was writing a ton of music, but not really doing anything with it. I didn’t really know exactly who to collaborate with ... until I met Matt, and everything seemed to fall into place.”
Ward considers: "I knew it could be a long-lasting thing after first hearing Zooey's demos because she had much more than one record's worth of material, and the quality of the songs was so great."
At first, the duo collaborated long distance with Ward in Portland, Oregon and Deschanel in Los Angeles, California. When they finally got together, the album was recorded in three sessions produced by M. Ward and engineered by Mike Coykendall at Blue Rooms in Portland, OR and Adam Selzer at Type Foundry in Portland, OR with additional engineering by Mike Mogis at Arc in Omaha, NE. The sessions featured Zooey Deschanel on vocals, piano, percussion, and xylophone; M. Ward on keys, guitar, slide guitar, string arrangement, and backing vocals; Tom Hagerman and Peter Broderick on strings; Mike Coykendall on engineering, percussion, bass, guitar, and mouth bass; Mike Mogis on engineering, mixing, percussion, and steel guitar; Rachel Blumberg on percussion; Adam Selzer on percussion; and Paul Brainerd on steel.
'Volume One' made it to number seventy-one on the US album chart, eighteen on the US top alternative albums chart, and number eight on the US independent albums chart.
1. "Sentimental Heart" 2:36
2. "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?" 2:31
3. "This Is Not a Test" 3:31
4. "Change Is Hard" 3:03
5. "I Thought I Saw Your Face Today" 2:50
6. "Take It Back" 2:37
7. "I Was Made for You" 2:31
8. "You Really Got a Hold on Me" (William Robinson, Jr.) 3:59
9. "Black Hole" 2:12
10. "Got Me" 2:46
11. "I Should Have Known Better" (Lennon–McCartney) 3:39
12. "Sweet Darlin'" (Z. Deschanel/J. Schwartzman) 2:41
13. "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (Traditional) 1:37
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