Los Angeles indie duo The Bird And The Bee sure does like making music, releasing its second EP One Too Many Hearts after having already released the EP Please Clap Your Hands mere months after the band’s self-titled debut album hit the store shelves. The band (Inara “Bird” George — vocals, Greg “Bee” Kurstin — producer, guitar) just has too much creativity, although this latest release did have something to do with a little holiday called Valentine’s Day.
I think part of the duo’s charm is its simplicity. The two have an ability to channel the pure and uncomplicated feelings of adolescent love. The opening track “Birthday” tells the story of true affection, uncluttered by the complexities of adult relationships. The lyrics repeat like a poem might and impress like flowers and a box of chocolate still do.
Don’t let Kurstin’s dreamy producing skills fool you. There’s still a traditional romantic sensibility underneath the combination of the funky rhythms and George’s hush and lush vocals, as in “The Last Day of Our Love” with the lyrics “On the first day / Of our love / You brought me incense and a flower.”
But the Bird and Bee do manage to maintain a little bit of reality, as in “Come As You Were” with its frantic whirlwind of emotions and feelings (“Blow down a skyscraper / Fill up your pockets / Fill up your nerves / Fall up into my arms / Give me a love and set off alarms”). You all remember the carefree excitement when anything and everything seemed possible and probable, don’t you?
In a way, every stage of romance is covered in this brief four-song EP. I’m exaggerating because we all know there’s only one stage of romance and that’s sex, right? The concluding track “You Belong To Me” fulfills that latter truth. It’s a cover duet between George and Gus Seyffert and lines like “Lay down way down along the stream / How very very sweet it will seem” are as implicitly erotic as they get. The New Yorker said it best when it called The Bird And The Bee a “sure delight.”
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