With Ray Guns Are Not Just Our Future, electronic duo The Bird and the Bee create delicate pop songs that are as straightforward as they are familiar. The Los Angeles outfit consists of vocalist Inara George and instrumentalist Greg Kurstin, where Kurstin crafts bouncing soundscapes that enable George to showcase her soft, classic voice. With a title alluding to the future, it’s interesting that these 14 tracks sound an awful lot like a futuristic take on the styling of old-fashioned crooners. George sounds so much like a 1920s club singer that the contrast between this traditionalism and the newness of the computerized backings is impossible to ignore. In a way, the instrumentals do well to complement this style; they remain light and playful throughout, never encroaching upon the innocence of George’s song. Unfortunately, this complementary construction does as much to hamstring the potential of the music as it does to allow each member to operate unobtrusively. The music fails to push the limits of what we’ve heard countless times before, and there’s no real tension to reveal itself through the shuffling of electronic dynamics.
The highlights of the band’s second long-player are the pieces that have the most memorable hooks, since the approach taken on the record doesn’t really work without melodic, forceful choruses that transcend the ordinariness of the song structures. Thankfully, several tracks include excellent pop hooks that make them nice little gems of indie electronica. “My Love” and “Love Letter to Japan” are two fantastic numbers that reveal the group’s true potential. But “Polite Dance Song” leaves the listener with a more lasting, representative impression of the record. Ray Guns Are Not Just Our Future is simply far too polite. It lacks edge and fuzz and anything else that would make it more compelling than the countless electro-pop bands that have crowded the market on precious, inoffensive creations following from the 1960s Top 40 tradition.
The record closes with perhaps its most interesting track. “Lifespan of a Fly” is an understated chamber pop composition that strips away the electronica to focus on the beauty and serenity of George’s vocals. It’s a welcome change of pace from what comes before it, but it’s equally dull and is very reminiscent of “Butterfly” from Weezer’s Pinkerton. Take what you will from that comparison.
1. Fanfare
2. My Love
3. Diamond Dave
4. What’s in the Middle
5. Ray Gun
6. Love Letter to Japan
7. Meteor
8. Baby
9. Phil
10. Polite Dance Song
11. You’re a Cold
12. Witch
13. Birthday
14. Lifespan of a Fly