Stream: The Bird and the Bee, ‘Lifetimes’

Kevin Bronson on January 21st, 2022

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Has it really been 15 years since The Bird and the Bee released their debut album? That’s what the calendar says.

Of course, that was a few years before songwriter-producer Greg Kurstin starting racking up Grammy nominations/awards and credits for working with artists such as Kelly Clarkson, Sia, Peaches, Lily Allen and Adele. And it was before Inara George had fully spread her tentacles as a solo artist, as a member of the Living Sisters and as pilot of Release Me Records and its charity series, “Road Angel Project.”

The Bird and the Bee have carved out a niche with their space-age indie-pop, releasing three full-lengths of original music, two in their “Interpreting the Masters” series (covering the music of Hall & Oates and Van Halen, respectively) and, in 2020, a holiday album.

And today the duo is back with the new single “Lifetimes,” a guitar-driven glance over their shoulders with lyrics referencing anecdotes from their past and suggesting, perhaps, that their collaboration (which began after producer Michael Andrews solicited Kurstin to play on George’s solo debut in 2005) was meant to be.

“We were so young / We were so young / But not that young / We had lifetimes before,” Geroge sings, typically airy.

Unlike the duo’s holiday album, which was made remotely because of the pandemic, Kurstin and George were in the same room for this one.

“It was really nice to be back in each other’s company and working on music together,” George says. “No matter who you are, there’s always something unique that happens when you are able to collaborate with someone in the same space. Since the beginning of the Bird and the Bee, Greg and I have always had a very easy and fun time collaborating. I think it’s what keeps us playing music together. We have a kind of unspoken understanding and such a creative ease. Being back together inspired this song about our first musical collaboration.”

The visuals for the single are the work of Simona Mehandzhieva & Norbert Garab.

||| Stream: “Lifetimes”