Out today is a new album from LA duo the Bird and the Bee titled “Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future,” which is fitting for an act that seems to have just beamed down from another era. Simply put – this album is beautiful. I want to bathe in it. The way they combine hooky melodies and atmospheric ambience makes their songs feel larger than life. Inara George’s vocals are smooth and stacked in seamless layers – just eerie enough to keep you from falling into a trance. Somehow “Ray Guns” also manages to be funky and hip – and that has nothing to do with it gracing the “Grey’s Anatomy” soundtrack.
The album is a mix of deliberate foot-stomping tracks (“Polite Dance Song”/”My Love”), electro-dance (“Meteor”/”Diamond Dave”) and jaunty amusing indie-pop (“Cold”/”Love Letter to Japan”). The more subdued whimsy of the Bird and the Bee past is also still injected through songs like “Baby” – though even that has been kicked up a notch with soaring harp and string accompaniment.
Greg Kurstin’s production is flawless and innovative, and nowhere is that more apparent than on “Polite Dance Song” which starts simply with a fantastic drum kit and a funky melody and can barely be contained by its end three and a half minutes later.
For your listening enjoyment, a cross-section -
Also check out the video for “Polite Dance Song”
Take a listen, and then buy the album- you won’t be disappointed.
