We thought it couldn’t get any worse after the recent announcement that Sonic Youth couple Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon were separating after 27 years of marriage, but now we get another blow. Singer/actress Zooey Deschanel and Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard have announced they too have separated. Indie rock no longer believes in love, folks.

Gibbard and Deschanel were married in September 2009, and reportedly had been together since 2008. An unnamed source told U.S. Weekly that the split was “mutual and amicable,” and that “no third party was involved.” Otherwise, no further word has been given on the cause of the break up.

Deschanel has been busy lately on her hit Fox television show “New Girl,” which premiered September 20. Though Fox had initially ordered a 13-episode run of the show, the network ordered 11 more episodes for the first season of the show on September 28.

Additionally, Deschanel’s band with singer/songwriter M. Ward called She & Him released its first Christmas album on October 24, called A Very She & Him Christmas. The album is the third studio release by the duo.

In May of this year, Ben Gibbard released Codes and Keys, the most recent release with his band Death Cab for Cutie. The release marks the band’s seventh full-length studio album and peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

Other than Death Cab for Cutie, Gibbard is also known for his work in the Postal Service, a duo with electronic musician Jimmy Tamborello. This collaboration produced one acclaimed album, 2003’s Give Up.

Before starring in “New Girl,” Deschanel was mainly known as an actress from her film roles, including her breakout performance as the protagonist’s older sister in Cameron Crowe’s 2000 film Almost Famous.  After that performance, she went on to act in a number of movies, including Elf, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and (500) Days of Summer.

Spoon, Broken Social Scene, She & Him and the xx will be among the bands playing in Austin for this year’s South by Southwest Music Festival. A complete list of bands slated to perform at the festival are listed below.

Music isn’t the only thing the festival has to offer. In the film bucket, we have the directoral debut of James Franco in a documentary called “Saturday Night.” Also being featured are Tim Blake Nelson’s film “Leaves of Grass” staring Edward Norton and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s (Amelie) latest project “Micmacs.”

The 24th annual SXSW Festival will take place from March 18-21. To get the low down on all things South by Southwest, visit the festival’s website.

!!! (Brooklyn, NY)
Amaral (Madrid, Spain)
Anita Tijoux (Santiago, Chile)
ApoptygmaBerzerk (Oslo, Norway)
Athlete (London, England)
Bajofondo (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Balkan Beat Box (Tel Aviv, Israel)
Band of Skulls (London, England)
Bear In Heaven (Brooklyn, NY)
Black Milk (Detroit, MI)
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (Los Angeles, CA)
BombaEstereo (Bogota, Colombia)
Broken Social Scene (Toronto, Canada)
Chalie Boy (Hearne, TX)
Chamillionaire& Paul Wall (Houston, TX)
Cymbals Eat Guitars (New York, NY)
Deer Tick (Providence, RI)
Evan Dando (New York, NY)
Frightened Rabbit (Selkirk, Scotland)
Fucked Up (Toronto, Canada)
Grant Hart (St. Paul, MN)
Hauschka (Dusseldorf , Germany)
Here We Go Magic (Brooklyn, NY)
Hudson Mohawke (Glasgow, Scotland)
Invincible (Detroit, MI)
jj (Gothenburg, Sweden)
Killer Mike (Atlanta, GA)
LA Riots (Los Angeles, CA)
Les SavyFav (Brooklyn, NY)
MalditaVecindad (Mexico City, Mexico)
Marina & The Diamonds (London, Englad)
Mayer Hawthorne & The County (Ann Arbor, MI)
Midlake (Denton, TX)
Miike Snow (Stockholm, Sweden)
Mr Hudson (London, England)
MundoLivre SA (Recife, Brazil)
Murs (Los Angeles, CA)
NataliaLafourcade (Mexico City, Mexico)
Pretty Lights (Charlottesville, VA)
Rye Rye (Baltimore, MD)
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (Brooklyn, NY)
She & Him (Los Angeles, CA)
Shwayze (Malibu, CA)
Spoon (Austin, TX)
Steve Aoki (Los Angeles, CA)
Systema Solar (Taganga, Colombia)
Texas Tornados (San Antonio, TX)
The Drums (Brooklyn, NY)
The Middle East (Townsville, Australia)
The Soft Pack (San Diego, CA)
The Very Best (New York, NY)
The xx (London, England)
Trae (Houston, TX)
VV Brown (London, England)
Wolfgang Gartner (Austin, TX)

The dynamic duo of She & Him, comprised of singer/songwriter M Ward and indie goddess/singer Zooey Deschanel, are putting the finishing touches on their second album ‘Volume 2’ and have already started booking dates for a spring tour. The pair will start things off at Largo in Los Angeles, California on March 15 and bookend the brief trek at Coachella Music Festival on April 16. The 7 date swing includes two performances in Los Angeles as well as two in New York City. A full listing of She & Him tour dates are outlined below.

The second album from She & Him, the aptly titled “Volume 2,” will hit stores on March 23. The group’s first single is entitled “In the Sun” and is currently available for preorder on the band’s website.

When Zooey first pitched M Ward her songs, he is quoted as saying , “I had no idea what I was going to hear when I first got her songs. I think ‘Volume One’ surprised a lot of people when they opened up the package and learned that she wrote all these songs. There are a lot of people who write music so that they can take their audience to a dark night of their own soul or to get something really heavy off their chest. I don’t think Zooey looks at music that way, and I think that’s a huge part of where her songwriting is coming from.”

Deschanel lists Carole King, Cole Porter, Roy Orbison and Gershwin among her influences. The indie film star also has a new film debuting in 2010 called “Your Highness.” It will pull together some of the minds behind “Pineapple Express” for a medieval comedy featuring James Franco, Natalie Portman and Danny R. McBride. Expect Zooey to fit it just fine with this motley crew.

2010 She & Him Tour Dates
March 2010
15 – Los Angeles, CA – Largo at the Coronet
25 – Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
27 – Savannah, GA – Savannah Music Festival
29, 30 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom

April 2010
15 – Pomona, CA – The Glass House
16 – Indio, CA – Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival