The Bird and the Bee, 'She's Gone' -- Song Premiere

Posted on Mar 8th 2010 2:38PM by Linda Laban
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A change is as good as a rest, so they say. After three albums of original songs, Los Angeles-based pop duo the Bird and the Bee will release a covers set, loftily-titled 'Interpreting the Masters Volume I: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates.' "We put out a lot of original music in a short amount of time. It's a nice break to explore someone else's songs," singer Inara George explains to Spinner. "We always have fun writing our own songs. This was a good way to keep working but not keep writing songs. It's a nice way to get rejuvenated."

As the title explains, the disc is an homage to the '80s dynamic pop duo. "We knew we wanted to do a covers album, but we didn't know who. We did a cover of 'I Can't Go for That' for fun one day and then played it at live shows. We just thought, we should do a whole Hall and Oates record," she explains of her and partner Greg Kurstn's subject choice.

The nine-song set, which will be released Mar. 23, kicks off with a B&B original, 'Heard It on the Radio,' but it wasn't hearing Hall and Oates on the radio that sealed the deal for them. "What we love about pop music is well-constructed songs, but they're really accessible. Greg had a Hall and Oates 'Greatest Hits' in his car for about a year. He connected with the songs and I always loved it; you just grew up with it."

The pair recorded the songs straight without changing the tempo, key, or arrangement. "I even tried to sing in Daryl Hall's voice," George says. "Sometimes you do a cover and try to make it your own. We thought it would be interesting to trace what they did and see how it came out in our style." Check out the premiere of the Bird and the Bee's cover of 'She's Gone' below.