Kevin Bronson on May 11th, 2015

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The Bird and the Bee’s sophisti-pop imagines a world where meticulous application of eyeliner is favored over face paint, designer cocktails trump designer hallucinogenics and “retro” is something of a class distinction. The duo — singer Inara George and multi-instrumentalist/all-star producer Greg Kurstin — haven’t released any original music since 2009’s “Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future,” a drought that ends in July with the new album “Recreational Love.” It’s not like George and Kurstin have been slacking — since that initial release George has performed with the Living Sisters, been involved in myriad charitable activities and become a mother. Kurstin has co-written and/or produced with the likes of Sia, Lykke Li, Tegan & Sara, Lana Del Rey and Charli XCX. In 2010, the Bird and the Bee released a tribute album of Hall & Oates covers, and some of that blue-eyed soul shines through in the welcoming grooves of “Recreational Love.” While still playful and coquettish, George has never sounded stronger vocally; with every jazzy horn, wonky synth and topical rhythm, though, the new songs fly to unexpected places. The first single is the more straight-ahead “Will You Dance?” — and the video for the track, which premiered on “Funny or Die,” features funnyman Patton Oswalt and Simon Helberg from “The Big Bang Theory.” As Morgan Freeman once said in the greatest movie ever, “Refreshment break, boss?”

||| Stream: “Will You Dance?”

||| Live: The Bird and the Bee play tonight and Tuesday at the Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery; they celebrate the July 17 release of the album with a July 12 at the Theatre at Ace Hotel.