Deja Vu

Just try and resist this toe-tapping anthem by indie rock svengali M. Ward. “Never Had Nobody Like You” is the lead single from his new record Hold Time. It’s a delicious mix of Lennon’s “Instant Karma,” Gary Glitter’s “Rock & Roll Part II” and Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky.” He did a spirited performance on David Letterman’s show this week:


M. Ward (the M stands for Matt, not Maternity or Montgomery) a Portland-based musician’s musician and songwriter’s songwriter who favors vintage equipment, is at the center of a very Laurel Canyon-ish coterie of musicians who collaborate and cohabitate with each other with impressive and alarming fecundity.


Last year, Ward collaborated with Almost Famous ingénue Zooey Deschanel in a band called She and Him. Rather than a Hollywood vanity project like Don Johnson’s Heartbeat, their debut Volume One was a strong, fun set of songs, reminiscent of the Mamas & the Papas, most written by Zooey herself. She is also a fine singer and sings backup on “Never Had Nobody Like You.”

She & Him, "Why Don't You Let Me Stay Here?"


Zooey also sang backup vocals on Jenny Lewis’s album Acid Tongue, Rock Turtleneck’s favorite album of 2008. Here's Jenny doing the very Laurel Canyon-ish title track:


Jenny, like Zooey, is also an actress turned musician. In addition to leading the fine LA pop group Rilo Kiley, Lewis sings for The Postal Service, a side project of Ben Gibbard. Gibbard is the creative force behind the band Death Cab for Cutie. He recently got engaged to … Zooey Deschanel. Here are Ben & Jenny playing an acoustic version of the excellent Postal Service track "Such Great Heights":


According to a recent profile in the New York Times, M. Ward is working on a Monsters of Folk, a collaboration with Conor Oberst (aka Bright Eyes) and My Morning Jacket’s Jim James. Will this be a CSN for the Obama Era? Judging by this clip from a 2008 rally, it looks like Deja Vu all over again.


Crosby, Stills & Nash: "Deja Vu," 1991