Bitter:Sweet 'Drama' album

Two years after their intoxicating debut, Bitter:Sweet returns with "Drama." Aptly titled, the album takes the listener through a range of heightened emotions and sounds, with meticulous production, impeccable songwriting, and sensual vocals.

Los Angeles-based duo Bitter:Sweet will release their sophomore album Drama (Quango) in June 2008 via Fontana/Universal. Drama is the highly-anticipated follow-up to 2006’s critically-acclaimed The Mating Game, which The Los Angeles Times describes as “the best album of its kind since Portishead’s Dummy was released more than a decade ago.”

Drama is a richly textured exploration that pushes Bitter:Sweet in new sonic directions, while retaining the lovable rhythms and hooks that brought them to the forefront of electronic music. From the jazzy, dark “Drink You Sober” to the dream-like voyage of “A Moment” to the intense, luscious hook of “Waking Up,” Drama highlight’s Shana Halligan’s dexterous and impassioned vocal capabilities and Kiran Shahani’s keen ear for cadence and production.

“The Bomb,” the first single off Drama is already garnering national attention as the theme song for NBC’s popular television comedy, “Lipstick Jungle.” However, this is not the first song the duo has had on both the big and small screen - songs from their debut album The Mating Game appear on numerous hit shows including “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Nip/Tuck,” “Desperate Housewives,” and “Entourage,” and films including The Devil Wears Prada and Shoot ‘Em Up . Bitter:Sweet has also had their music featured in commercials for Victoria’s Secret, Korbel and Bebe.

Bitter:Sweet’s stunning live show can be found in both small clubs and large venues, including recent appearances at LA’s Disney Concert Hall with a full orchestra, and the Gibson Amphitheatre, and opening for such artists as The Shins and Lily Allen. Drama captures the band’s live show and their ability to simultaneously conjure vintage and forward thinking sounds, all while showing off the dexterity and accessibility of their music.

biography
There is something mesmerizing and indisputable about things in life that come together by the mystery of fate – be it a personal relationship, an artistic endeavor, or a simple matter of being in the right place at the right time. When all three converge, the result is something that goes beyond any realm of possibility...

Such is the story of Los Angeles music duo BITTER:SWEET (Shana Halligan and Kiran Shahani) whose lives seemed to have over-lapped but never crossed until the perfect moment in time. How else can you explain two people who lived one block away from each other, and who recorded just one wall away, who never connected until an anonymous online posting?

When Kiran (producer, composer) and Shana (vocals, melodies, lyrics, co-producer) met, they were both “not that into” the L.A. music scene. “There was a time when I had even stopped listening to music,” explains Shana. “But sometimes you’re just meant to do things in life...”

As a Southern California native, Shana had just returned home from “having a beautiful experience” in Europe when she decided to answer her first-ever ad for a singer. Not only was it an ad, it was on Craig’s List! The accomplished musician had grown up with music in her blood – her father is eight-time Grammy Award winning composer Dick Halligan of Blood, Sweat & Tears – and she had started her singing career at age seven by performing in films and television commercials. Later on, she performed live throughout the United States and Europe in addition to composing music for television shows and soundtracks (most recently she is featured on the Buckethead album singing a duet with Serj Tankian of System Of A Down).

“I can’t believe I answered an ad,” Shana says now, “but I just did it!” As fate would have it, her call was the first to be answered by music producer and dance music enthusiast Kiran, who, as a founding member of the Supreme Beings of Leisure, was largely responsible for their self-titled debut album (the one that broke the electronic/trip-hop group by selling more than 250,000 copies worldwide).

After breaking away from SBL, Kiran had been toiling away in his studio doing remixes for artists like Marilyn Manson and Angela McClusky (Télépopmusik) in addition to scoring a lot of music for film and television (most recently, he remixed Wayne Newton’s “Viva Las Vegas” for the theme song of The Entertainer). Although he had plenty of work on his hands, Kiran longed to collaborate musically with someone who “had the right chemistry” to match his globally-inspired, finely tuned, and optimistic musical aesthetic. And that’s why he placed an online ad.

“When we met, we agreed to just play some cool music together, while sticking completely to who we were as individuals,” the two later reveal. “The energy around what we did was so natural and fluid, we just kept doing it.” Now each one can’t imagine working without the other. Kiran now admits, “I’d been dreaming about her for a very long time.”

After collaborating, Shana and Kiran discovered that they had the same exact taste in music (even in “guilty pleasure” bands from the ‘70s and ‘80s – you know, the ones you won’t admit unless you really trust someone!). They also discovered that six months prior to meeting, they had recorded just one wall away from each other in the same studio. They also shared numerous friends in common, and even stranger still, had lived one street away from each other, and still had never met ... until now.

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Bitter:Sweet - Drama