It's not easy to put a finger on what exactly singer/songwriter Miles George does, but musicians like him hold our attention longer. If you completely grasp what an artist puts forth, you're apt to move on. George'll raise your eyebrows a little; leave you guessing where the characters he creates come from, wondering how he straddles pop's multiple decades without committing to just one, perplexed as to why he goes simply by the stage name Cu-Cu.

On the surface, he plays pop tunes on the piano with a sort of Ben Folds simplicity and Beck oddity. His playing is rudimentary and un-flashy. It never crowds the melody or the story. Dig a little deeper and you'll find abstract concepts and sounds and a composer wallowing in wonder.

Through his various EP recordings Cu-Cu has flirted with synth-pop and noise, but generally comes to rest on more strident piano that supports the fragile strength of his songs; songs that in their casual ease beguile this 19-year-old musician himself.

Cu-Cu is a fascinating cat and his answers are often between the lines. City recently sat down with the musician; an edited transcript of our conversation follows.

CITY: Miles George already sounds like a stage name. Why Cu-Cu?

Cu-Cu came from something that just came outta my head when I was about 10 or 11. That's when I started writing music. For some reason or another I didn't want to be known - at least to the people I knew - as Miles George, the songwriter. I wanted to have a stage name.

Miles George sounds pretty cool, though.

I know. But I didn't think the name Miles would be accepted into the musical world for some reason.

Yeah, Miles Davis had a helluva time.

But I didn't know who he was when I was 10.

It's not that Cu-Cu does a disservice or give the wrong impression, but it certainly doesn't portray the music you play.

It catches people off guard...but I kinda like that idea. People go into a show thinking Cu-Cu is going to be some weird psychedelic field trip for kids and it turns out to be something of maturity and something that people can relate too. Obviously there is a quirkiness to the usual set up of the music. It grabs people's attention, at least.

What got you started?

I've grown up with music. My dad is a drummer. I remember the first time I heard The Beatles' "White Album." My parents were cleaning around the house and they were blasting it on the stereo. For some reason I was just captivated. There were also doses of Genesis - this is Genesis with [Peter] Gabriel - I heard "The Lamb Lies Down" when I was 8.

Directly or indirectly The Beatles seem to be an influence on anyone that is song-based, and a lot of your contemporaries have been impacted by The Fab Four. The difference here is you seem a little more aware of it. Does this vintage vantage serve to your advantage?

I see it as an advantage. Personally I think it's the best music that has ever existed, at least in the 20th or 21st centuries. Music is a constant living thing. It doesn't die. And it's not just The Beatles. It's bands like the Yardbirds, The Kinks that have put an influence on bands today.

When did you write your first song?

I was probably 10 or 11. It was called "The Side Of Me." It was lyrically a little weak...

You were 10.

I know. But they were just sing-songy rhymes. I had a little Casio keyboard that was about a foot and a half. I got my dad to record my first five-song tape. I didn't think I was going to be a songwriter. It was just something I was doing for fun.

When did it get more serious?

In 5th grade, everyday before lunch I would go see this counselor. She wanted to see me because of my songwriting.

Out of support or out of concern?

I think she saw more in the lyrics than I did. We would have a sit-down conversation for 40 minutes every day and we would play this tape I wrote in 1999, and write down the lyrics, and discuss them.

When did the lyrics start getting less quirky and more poignant?

September 11th, ironically enough. That was a pretty melodramatic time for me. I though the world was coming to an end. That's when I realized there's more out there than I thought. I began looking at the world as a whole and how destructive man can be and that's when my songs became a little more mature in a way.

What topics do your songs tackle?

Past relationships I've had - especially with girls. I don't write a lot about love. I've never really had a relationship.

So you've yet to write that song.

Yeah... I write about the ones that I let get away on me. I don't write about myself. I'm more of a poet than anything else. I create these characters, and create a story, and I turn that story into a song. I create characters of society, people you wonder about; the angry guy that doesn't like kids on his lawn, the angry man down the street with 300 dogs...

What about happy characters?

That's where I lean more towards my friends, especially my mom. My mom's a very uplifting soul. She's a very encouraging person.

Well, you play beautiful music on the piano, that's no doubt easy for a parent to get behind. It's not like you're pounding the drums in the basement.

I do like to bash around with toy pianos but they don't seem to mind.

So when you get the story together lyrically, you flesh it out with music that fits?

Not necessarily. I like to not get a straightforward point across in my music. I like to have it up for grabs and have the listener have an interpretation for themselves.

Aren't they gonna do that anyway?

I know. I like when people come up to me and ask, "Is this song about this, is this song about that?" I just shrug my shoulders and say, "you decide. It's up to you."

For more info, visit myspace.com/cucumusic