Los Angeles duo digs into pop pastiche
Having turned their off-the-cuff side project into a surprisingly
eclectic debut album and a single that topped Billboard’s Hot Dance
Club Play chart, singer/songwriter Inara George and veteran
producer/sideman Greg Kurstin cast their stylistic nets even wider on
their second full-length. As before, George is the coyly wide-eyed focus for Kurstin’s glistening
electronic production and bubbling beats, creating a singular
personality out of a disparate set of song styles. But unlike before,
the Brazilian and psych-pop influences are muted in favor of more
straightforward gestures, with bits of icy space pop (“Ray Gun”),
swinging Tin Pan Alley (“You’re a Cad”) and pristine, sighing balladry
(“Baby”) turning up among hip-hop-style shout-outs and smirking paeans
to David Lee Roth. But while the duo borrows a bit too obviously from
its influences at times, the album’s detailed production and stylistic
shifts reward multiple listens, resulting in a pop album with
surprising depth.
Listen to "Ray Gun" off Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future on The Bird and The Bee'sMySpace.