The Bird and the Bee @ Teragram Ballroom 7/9/16
Birds and bees usually pair together as a euphemism, but this pairing is a sonic rather than sexual one.
The Bird and the Bee, comprised of instrumentalist and composer Greg Kurstin and vocalist Inara George, chimed and hummed with the sounds of a lovely day. Kurstin’s soundscapes whirred and rang to construct a vibrant yet hazy climate, through which George’s voice floats free as a cloud. She grooved about onstage in long flow-y garb, also worn by the three backup vocalists/instrumentalists; as they loosely swayed and spun in unison, it evoked the imagery of a 60s girl group.
“Greg and I have been playing together, what, like ten years?” George said. “And this (*the audience’s reverence at their feet) never gets old.”
They proved that there is a strength in softness, especially for encore, the aggressively curious “Fucking Boyfriend.” Like the Shangri-Las and the Shirelles, the Bird and the Bee utilized poppy, innocent rhythms and harmonies to spin tales of complex emotion and struggle. Birds and bees do make song and honey, respectively, but never forget that they can shit and sting just as easily (and that’s why we love them).
