I tried. Really, I did. I wanted to like this EP from Los Angeles-based, “the bird and the bee” (lower case, just like e.e. cummings would have wanted it) but to use the vocalist’s own words, I kept feeling like they were, “…working up to something but (they gave) me almost nothing.”

Bird and Bee are Inara George on vocals and Greg Kurstin as producer/musician, and there is no doubt they have talent. However, the tracks on this CD just fail to illicit a smile. Three songs and an uneventful remix are at once both soothing and irritating. The title track is as repetitive as the name implies. “I’m a broken heart” is worth a spin or two but interest faded fast.

Perhaps the saving grace is “f*cking boyfriend.” A plea to the uncommitted men of the world, “f*ucking boyfriend” presents the story of a girl so exasperated with her relationship that she is left with only the last-minute cry of, “would you be my fucking boyfriend?” Despite its soft jazz feel, it is not a song you will be hearing in Starbucks. The fourth track, a peaches remix of “f*cking boyfriend” exists without reason.

Early next year the bird and the bee will release a full-length CD; I hope it can deliver where this EP fell sadly short.

– Simon King