Inara George was born and raised in the Topanga Canyon area of Los Angeles. To say that Inara was born into a musical family is an understatement, for she was surrounded by musicians from the moment she was born. Inara's father is a legend in music. Lowell George is the front man / guitarist / songwriter for the '70s band Little Feat. She was constantly exposed to her father's music and the works of the family friends including Terry Allen, Van Dyke Parks, and her godfather Jackson Browne. Admittedly, this was the very thing that pushed Inara away from doing music in her early years. She instead took interest in theater. Her younger years were spent reading and performing Shakespeare. Her love for Shakespeare and theater were so strong that she eventually attended a college in Boston to study classical theater and acting.

She could only avoid getting into music for so long. It was in her blood. It was during one hot California summer that Inara — along with her high-school buddies — came together to form a pop-rock band they called Lode. They easily landed a recording contract with Geffen Records under which they released an EP titled Legs & Arms (1996). The band toured for two years before disbanding. Around '98 or '99 Inara formed a new band with Bryony Atkinson, named Merrick. The band did two records in 2001, a self-titled album and Driving Around A Lot Hard And Fast Driving Club. A year or so later, it too disbanded.

A few years later her soon-to-be husband, TV and film director Jake KasdanInara, introduced Inara to Michael Andrews of the band Greyboy Allstars, and musical composer for Donnie Darko & Freaks and Geeks. It was this fateful meeting with Andrews that sparked the idea of crafting a solo record, which led to Inara's debut album All Rise (2005). The songs on All Rise are a collaborative effort between Inara and Mike. Well-known musicians were brought in to play parts in the project: Chris Stillwell (Greyboy Allstars) on bass, Pete McNeal (formerly of Cake and drummer for Jem) on drums and Greg Kurstin (then known for having played and performed with Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Ben Harper) on keyboards. Jackson Browne also appeared on one track (A Day). All Rise was a major factor in establishing the solo career of Inara.

The following year, a new band was formed. Inara partnered up with Greg Kurstin and formed The Bird And The Bee. The band was born from their common love for jazz standards. Their first EP, Again And Again And Again And Again, immediately drew attention for the band's jazz- and brazilian-infused electro-pop sound. This EP includes a Peaches remix of Fucking Boyfriend, which catapulted the band to the top of the U.S. Hot Dance Club Songs chart. That was just the beginning of the long and fruitful career of The Bird And The Bee.

The Bird And The Bee released its self-titled debut full-length under Blue Note Records in January 23, 2007, and garnered wide critical acclaim for its charming and memorable songs. The chemistry between Inara and Greg is readily apparent in the successive releases of EPs Please Clap Your Hands (2007), One Too Many Hearts (2008) and Live From Las Vegas At The Palms (2008). Two years after their debut, the electro-pop duo released their follow-up record Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future (2009). Although the new record received a mix of positive and negative reviews, the band once again successfully captured the essence of retro music and flawlessly integrated the wonders of the digital age into the new songs.

So far we've only touched on the albums released by The Bird And The Bee, in this section we'll talk about the solo albums that were released post-All Rise. The first of these albums is the collaboration with Van Dyke Parks titled An Invitation, released on August 12, 2008. An Invitation is a lush and sophisticated orchestral overload of songs that stemmed from the writing session between Inara George and Mike Andrews. The third solo full-length, Accidental Experimental, was released as a digital-only album on October 20, 2009. This album will be discussed further in the CD review below.

Inara is also involved in various other projects and one of them is a project with Becky Stark (of Lavender Diamond) and Eleni Mandell, The Living Sisters. Currently Inara and Greg are working on a The Bird And The Bee cover record of Hall And Oates songs, to be released sometime in early 2010, and plan to record a children's album.

KGRL is very proud to present our January 2010 Flower-Powered Artist, Inara George. Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Inara George joined KGRL in the studio for an exclusive live performance shot in high-definition video and audio. Check out our CD review of Accidental Experimental and awesome photos shot by our good friend Jeff Koga. There's also a comprehensive interview with Inara George in video, audio, & transcribed form.

Don't forget that you can request a FREE copy of the FPA live session DVDs!

First, let's get the non-experimental tracks out of the way. Folk-pop lovers have something to put on repeat with the song Surprise. Accidental Experimental opens up with a non-experimental track and it is definitely one of the best songs on this record. The acoustic guitar pattern is reminiscent of Bread's hit single "If." It's the type of song that, when you hear the first few notes, you already know is going to be an instant favorite. And why wouldn't it be a favorite? When you hear Inara's perfect-pitched voice singing such a euphoric melody, it will be irresistable.

But that's not the only folk-pop song on this album that is guaranteed to appeal almost immediately to any listener; Bottlecaps is in the same league. The acoustic-guitar-and-synth contrast is truly divine. It's a long song (clocking in at 5:33) by pop standards but I love every single note that Inara sings as well as every minute instrumental detail in it. Surprise and Bottlecaps are the two best songs that Inara has written so far – and believe me when I say that picking the best songs of Inara is not easy.

But what about the rest of the tracks on the record? Well, you've had your warning. That's the part where it lives up to the "experimental" in the album title. Five of the songs on Accidental Experimental came from An Invitation. Was there anything wrong with the versions of the songs on An Invitation? I don't think so. But you can't take a 24-piece orchestra with you to every show, so perhaps that is one reason for the re-interpretation of these songs. The first of these is Accidental. Gone are the various wind and string instruments from the version in An Invitation, replaced by classically-played acoustic guitars and keyboards. But even if the new arrangement is stripped of the orchestra, the song retains its odd and complex structure. Even the lyrics stretch the imagination: "Where's the knife? / Where's the fire? / Am I a saint or a liar?"

The second song that came from An Invitation is Bomb. I'm trying not to say it but I can't help it: this song is the bomb! To categorize this song as pop, folk, or any other mainstream genre would be a serious offense. Bomb is dark, twisted and provocative. The new arrangement gives rise to all three characteristics in contrast to the mild, summer-y feeling we get from the Van Dyke Parks version. The short synth-keyboard instrumental portion of the song may sound dissonant at first but it's a perfect fit for such a foreboding melody.

The third is Dirty White. What sounds like a xylophone permeates this track and instantly counteracts the melancholy established by Bomb. Clocking in at 2 minutes and 23 seconds, Dirty White is a short but memorable track that sounds partly retro and partly Hawaiian. It's an odd mix in an eccentric song.

The fourth one is another short song of approximately the same length, titled Right As Wrong. Right As Wrong is perhaps the most basic arrangement on this record with only a piano and Inara on main vocals, made sophisticated by the constant pam-pam-pams of the background vocals. The fifth and last song from An Invitation is Oh My Love. The re-interpretation makes the song sound like a ballad from a Western movie. It's a strange brew of a ballad but it conveys the ache well with Inara's heartfelt delivery.

And now we move on to more originals on the record, starting with Can't Say No. This is perhaps the song that most closely resembles the upbeat danceable style of The Bird And The Bee, but not too closely. The stanzas are quite melodic, while the chorus feels a wee bit weird. It's not just the male background vocals that create the dissonance, but also the melody itself. If there's anything on this record that sounds too experimental, this is it.

Where To Go is another off-kilter track that makes us dizzy with its intoxicating beats and swirly melody. The acoustic guitar solo past the middle of the track is outstanding. I've already heard plenty of weird stuff but the album continues tossing us oddballs. Oddball or not, it's easy to be captured by the unpredictable shifts in rhythm and melody of the next track, Captured. This track demonstrates Mike Andrews' love for a mish-mash of synths and instruments played in organized chaos.

The new version of Greedy, which originally appeared on the Japanese edition of All Rise, is ethereal. The background vocals sound like ghostly apparitions haunting the track. Although I prefer the piano-and-acoustic-guitar arrangement of the original, the new version ups the ante in terms of mood and atmosphere.

Aside from the two more conventional tracks mentioned earlier, Surprise and Bottlecaps, Accidental Experimental lives up to the "Experimental" in the album title. The songs on this record stretch the boundaries of pop and folk songwriting towards the wildly imaginative—so imaginative they exceed the usual limitations of the genres. Accidental Experimental is not your typical record. Then again, Inara George isn't your typical singer/songwriter either.

Surprise 94.08Mb

Bottlecaps 127.28Mb

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Listen to Inara George's responses in High Quality MP3 Stream using the player below:




Transcription excerpt from the interview:

KGRL: You had a band back in the '90s called Lode. What kind of music did you guys used to play?

Inara George: You really did your homework. Lode was my first band. It was the '90s you know, so try to think of the bands that were big then. We sort of had a funky thing, and then there was also— I don't know exactly how to explain it. It's not at all what I do today. It's very different, so if you can find a Lode record—


KGRL: Can you tell us who influenced you the most in your songwriting style?

Inara: That's a good hard question. It's so nice because so many times you get really bad questions when you get interviewed, so I appreciate that. Songwriting influence, I don't know. I think that early on— I think it all depends on who I'm writing for. If I'm writing for myself, probably—because I'm thinking lyrically—good Joni Mitchell or Bob Dylan. You know, it's when you really want to delve into the lyrics in a more emotional way. Maybe Bob Dylan wouldn't even come into that category. I was a really big fan of Wrigley Jones when I was a kid. Wilco I think really has great lyrics. Musically...I don't know. My peers? I'm not sure. I know that I am influenced by a ton of stuff but I just forget what it is. But then The Bird And The Bee is a different thing entirely from my solo stuff. It's sort of a more singer-songwriter [style].


KGRL: Most of the tracks on Accidental Experimental are on the album An Invitation. We know that the some of the songs, co-written with Mike Andrews, already existed before your amazing collaboration with Van Dyke Parks. What made you want to revisit these songs for the new album?

Inara: Well, here's the thing: it's not really new. Most of these songs were recorded before I'd worked with Van Dyke, and recorded pretty much the way they sound. Mike and I were making my next record and we started it, and then we stopped it, and then we thought Oh, let's do it with Van Dyke. So we got the record company to do that with Van Dyke. And then the record company [didn't] have any more records from me [so] they wanted to put out these songs. When you record anything under a contract with a record company they own the masters, so then we put this out. You know, I don't sell a lot of records as a solo artist, so I think it was more material for licensing and stuff...It wasn't like a real planned record. It was kind of a dusting off of old stuff and putting it out. We worked on it and Mike wanted people to hear it, and I think the label wanted a little bit more material to work with. That's kind of how it happened.


KGRL: How did The Bird And The Bee came into existence?

Inara: We were recording my record. We were actually in pre-production. Mike was working on something else so we couldn't record. Greg and I kind of hit it off. I think Greg liked the way I sang and I think he probably liked my lyrics. I don't know what it was, but he plays jazz piano amazingly well and I knew some jazz standards, so we kind of started singing that at the end of one of my shows. All the people that played on the record played shows with me for months before we recorded, so at the end of the show Greg and I would play a standard. Then we started playing shows just as a duo. We started writing songs and then we recorded these songs, and all of a sudden we were like "We should have a band." So we recorded the record kind of on the side. It took us a while to finish it, and then it was really easy after that.


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