Featured Artist Of The Week: The Bird And The Bee

Inara George (Bird) and Greg Kurstin (Bee) are a Californian duo. She’s a singer and daughter of Little Feat frontman Lowell George. He's a producer and keyboardist who has worked with Beck, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, his own band Geggy Tah and Lily Allen. The two have a successful solo career but, because they liked creating music together, they formed The Bird and the Bee with a mission to create wonderful jazzy electro pop.
The Bird And The Bee is a solid debut which will certainly attract anyone who likes pop with a twist. I had the great opportunity of interviewing the duo, which I will be more than glad to share with you…

The Pompomist: What is one sentence that perfectly describes Californian duo The Bird And The Bee?
Inara for The Bird And The Bee: Psychedelic pop.

TP: Can you tell me a little bit about how you got together as a duo?
The Bird And The Bee: Greg was playing on my solo records and we hit it off and started to write and play together.

TP: How did you come up with the name ‘The Bird And The Bee’?
The Bird And The Bee: We took it from our song, birds and the bees.

TP: The Bird And The Bee delivers wonderfully a mixture of 1960’s pop, jazz, and Brazilian Bossa Nova, all with a Californian energy. Can you tell us a little bit about your great self-titled album?
The Bird And The Bee: We never really intended on making a record with such a wide release. We had started writing and recording songs together... and at some point we decided we had an albums worth of material... but it took about 3 years of stolen afternoons of writing in Greg's echo park home studio to finish it. So maybe some of L.A. creeped in there.

TP: What makes this CD different?
The Bird And The Bee: It's not really a question that I'm good at answering... you probably would know more than I. The music to us is very familiar.

TP: Well I can definitely tell you that your music is different because is a soft, vintage, light and sophisticated electronica pop with a delicate mix of jazz and Bossa Nova groove and celestial vocals. Is something new and fresh compared to what people are used to hear on the radio.
Now, can you describe your shows, musically and visually?
The Bird And The Bee: There are 6 of us on stage. Me (I play bass), Greg (keyboard and guitar), two back up singers, a drummer and another guitarist. We get pretty dolled up and I think we have a pretty good time.

TP: Tell us about your next show and why we should be there.
The Bird And The Bee: We have a show at the El Rey (L.A. July 20th) and the Independent (S.F. July 19th) and we will be performing some new material... and debuting some new outfits... so should be a fun night.

TP: What musical groups do you think influenced The Bird And The Bee’s sound?
The Bird And The Bee: Gal Costa, The Velvet Underground, Prince...

TP: Is there anything you would like to tell the fans of The Bird And The Bee?
The Bird And The Bee: Hope you like the music.

TP: What can we expect from The Bird And The Bee for the rest of the year?
The Bird And The Bee: We are playing fuji rock in late July... putting out an EP in the fall... maybe touring Europe and Japan in September... pretty loose schedule at the moment...

TP: Thank you!

Here's a music video from their debut single 'Again And Again':



For more info about the duo and samples of their music, visit The Bird And The Bee's website and their myspace profile.