You already know how I feel about She & Him.  Having never been to a show before, and sadly missing all opportunites to catch them at SXSW, I was thrilled to get to see them play at the Bowery Ballroom on Monday night.  They are better live than I expected.   M. Ward has been touring for years, and having caught some of his set at Summerstage last summer, I knew his guitar playing was golden.

But Zooey Deschanel’s voice is stronger than people probably give her credit for. The girl is loud, and talented; she sings and flits back and forth between instruments on stage.  She has a presence.  And it doesn’t hurt that she hops around on stage during M. Ward’s solos like a mesmerizing folk princess with infectious energy.  The full backing band with them was also a surprise, bringing a fuller sound and life to the set than I’d anticipated going in.

Opening for She & Him was harmony trio The Living Sisters.  Formed by Elini Mendel, Becky Stark, and Inara George, Alex Lily of Obi Best is standing in during the rest of Inara George’s pregnancy. Each woman, Alex included, has already made a name for herself as a talented female vocalist, though the easiest recogntion to the masses might be Becky Stark for her recent role on The Decemberists‘ The Hazards of Love. I’d only previously heard The Living Sisters track Double Knots, with it’s sultry vintage melodies and general, cutesey sound, and I was happy to get to see it live.

The girls work well together, complimenting each other nicely and silencing the crowd with just their harmonies.  Their first full album, Love to Live, was released on March 30th, during their run at Bowery.  “Love to Live” has become very much their slogan of sorts, stopping to remind the crowd how much they love to live, and we should too.   They have a slightly kooky stage presense, in the most wonderful way.  They also stopped to impart at one point, the wisdom that “Sound is touch.”  Think about it.