the bird and the bee
12 Mar 08, Wed Theatre Studio
USA
"...light, electronics-specked pop that touches on the Beach Boys, Burt Bacharach and bossa nova. The tracks are expertly constructed and often packed with ideas..." - Rollingstone.com
"Their self-titled debut album has a certain lounge-inspired laziness, but with sharp incisors that cut through the easiness with enough of an edge to keep you from becoming lost in your martini. Kitsch is all fine and good, but George and Kurstin have something far more rewarding - good songs." - www.treblezine.com
Sunshine, wafting breezes, retro pastels, inflatable pools and blues skies pop into mind with the music of the bird and the bee - light, languid and intoxicating as a bottle of bubbly on a cool summer's day.
The duo from sunny Southern California - comprising multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Greg Kurstin and vocalist Inara George - doles out bouncy, sparkly electro-pop that is part trip-hop, part breezy Brazilian tropicalia, part jazz, part delirious twee pop, part 60s pop, part nü lounge, and a whole lot of cheeky originality.
Greg was a jazz piano prodigy who studied with jazz icon and Charles Mingus' pianist, Jaki Byard, and then became one of Los Angeles' most well-respected musicians, performing with Beck and Robert Moog, as well as writing with and/or producing The Flaming Lips, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Peaches and Lily Allen, among others. Inara, the daughter of Lowell George, frontman of the eclectic 70s Southern rock band Little Feat, had been in several bands in Los Angeles and had begun a solo career in 2005, releasing a debut album All Rise. It was during the making of that record that Greg and Inara first met and since then it has been the bird and the bee.
Through two successful EPs and an acclaimed self-titled debut album, Greg's inspired songwriting and understated electronics, and Inara's fresh-as-spearmint vocals come together with a charm that simply beguiles.
Admission only for patrons aged 18 and above.
Theatre Studio
7.30pm, 10pm (60 mins, no intermission)
$38 (includes one drink) (SOLD OUT)