The Bird & The Bee plays, first and foremost, dance music.  You’re safe throwing it on at your next party, in other words, but Inara’s easy, soft voice in the vein of Brazilian Girls’ Sabina Sciubba makes it casual enough for any atmosphere. 

And speaking of Brazil, Please Clap Your Hands features occasional Bossa Nova undertones in the tradition of Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto, most heavily on the track The Races. 

The Bird & The Bee evokes 1960s imagery with its new album, topped off with a mod fashion sensibility and an album cover to go with it.  They modernize the genre with their lyrics, which are at times cynical and sarcastic, full of female irreverence for the male counterpart.  On So You Say, Inara states, “If I ask you to follow me around, button up your mouth, I want to be clear with you….If I ask you jump, ‘How high?’ is what you’ll say.”

The simplified, slowed version of the Bee Gees 1977 How Deep is Your Love, played with a steady, deep heartbeat, a one-finger piano and a duet with Sia rounds out an album full of throwbacks.   

Please Clap Your Hands is also enough of a departure from The Bird & The Bee’s debut – which was plenty strong in its own right – to signify a multidimensional talent with potential staying power.

Scott Goldberg