The Bird And The Bee - The Bird And The Bee (Regal)
3/5
By: Matt Tomiak
'The Bird And The Bee', aka Los Angeles duo Greg Kurstin and Inara Georges' first full-length album, manages to capture that most elusive of concepts.... 'cool.' Lord knows enough bands have striven for it in the past, but it's hard to recall an album that presents such an assured concoction of gleaming, seemingly effortless hypnotic hip since Air's 'Moon Safari' back in the late 90s.
Opener 'Again & Again' feels like something from Blur 's experimental but nevertheless pop- indebted '13' album, whilst the (almost) title track 'Birds And The Bees' channels the faraway dreaminess of classic Super Furry Animals.
George's gossamer vocals are often evocative of former Concretes singer Victoria Bergsman; indeed, the fiendishly catchy 'I Hate Camera', an infuriatingly infectious slice of 21st electro-pop that's more beholden to Girls Aloud or Sugababes than anything properly 'indie', is worthy of being spoken of in the same breath of The Concretes' charming 'You Can't Hurry Love'. The Postal Service's bleepy introspection is channelled- and made a whole lot ruder on 'F-ing boyfriend.' Those of us slightly longer in the tooth might also recall Black Box Recorder's early noughties hit 'The Facts of Life' upon being presented with this track.
Sagging slightly in its latter stages, you'd be hard pushed to contend that 'The Bird And The Bee' is a genuinely gripping start-to-finish listen. Still, if it's that aforementioned 'cool' factor you're after, this LP has it in droves.
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