She & Him, the indie pop duo made up of actress/singer Zooey Deschanel and singer/songwriter M. Ward, have signed with a major label. The duo will release their next album with Columbia Records.
A rep for the label confirmed the news to Billboard. The group will leave their longtime indie label Merge Records to join the Sony Music subsidiary. They will put out their first Columbia album in the fall.
Deschanel and Ward are best known for their mix of folk and pop, with a heavy dose of 1960s influence. They have released four albums, including three traditional studio albums and the A Very She & Him Christmas holiday record. The holiday album is their best-seller with 391,000 copies sold.
Deschanel is best known for her work as an actress, following her breakthrough role in (500) Days of Summer and becoming the walking definition of adorkable. Of course, she made plenty of film and television appearances before that, including a role in Elf. She is currently the star of Fox’s hit New Girl, which starts its fourth season in the fall.
According to Popdust, she met with Ward in 2007 after being introduced by The Go-Getter director Martin Hynes. They released Vol. 1 the following year.
image courtesy of Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com