If the name Greg Kurstin sounds familiar to you, it's because there can't be many readers of this blog who don't own at least one CD with his name on the sleeve. His recent credits include much of Lily Allen's album, Rock Steady and Chickfit by All Saints, Catch You by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, and tracks by Peaches, Natasha Bedingfield, Jamelia, Marion Raven, Jenny Lewis, Jason Mraz... the list goes on and it's mostly very ace, so I was excited to hear the work of his own band, The Bird And The Bee. It's a similar set-up and musical direction to Frou Frou or Dragonette, with a male songwriter and female singer. As with those two bands, Inara George has done some solo work, including an album called All Rise released on January 25 2005, almost exactly two years before her new album with Greg came out on January 23 this year. Their music is sweet and wistful, very nice without being invasive, so it's quite relaxing. If you miss Frou Frou then hop over to their MySpace immediately and fall in love with the lovely music (and all of it is completely lovely, although a bit repetitive) of The Bird and the Bee. A remix of this song reached no.1 on the dance charts in America, but I've posted the original because I think it's more representative of the band's style.