The Bird and the Bee Issue #38

Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future (Blue Note)

By Anna Breshears
Published: December 1st, 2008 | 11:25am

Los Angeles duo The Bird and The Bee craft jazzy lounge-pop as smooth as a Brandy Alexander. Glittery cascades of horns, organ, and harpsichord mingle with space age electronics, trip-hop rhythms, and Inara George’s delicate purr. The songs on second full-length Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future click when songwriter Greg Kurstin holds back from stacking genres on top of one another.

The Bird and The Bee cleverly evoke sixties-era James Bond soundtracks with the groovy, Esquivel-inspired “Witch,” and their velvety paean to David Lee Roth, “Diamond Dave,” is effortless and charming. The lush “My Love” revels in bouncy percussion and tidal waves of sound, and the ballad “Ray Gun” finds George’s soft lilt brushing up against the ambient whirl of imagined shooting stars.

Despite the album’s successes, when The Bird and The Bee try to do too much at once, their efforts become overly fussy: The cabaret-infused Bollywood number, “Love Letter To Japan,” the tongue-in-cheek hip-hop of “Polite Dance Song,” and the show-tune fervor of “You’re a Cad” sound hokey and grating.

George and Kurstin aren’t exactly composing masterpieces on Ray Guns, but they are skilled at creating frothy fun. The duo’s syrupy concoctions may not provide much more than a pleasant evening buzz, but they sure taste good going down.

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