Bitter Sweet Fate

Fate often takes us on a ride and is frequently out of our control. But fate can often lead us onto a path that we could only dream about. The coming together of the Los Angeles group Bitter:Sweet may have been by chance but here at JXM we hope they are here to stay.

JXM got a chance to chat with Shana Halligan and Kiran Shahani about their hypnotizing music from their debut album The Mating Game alongside Bollywood, Blaxploitation and feeling moody. Or jaded as we like to say.

JXM: The coming together of Bitter:Sweet was sort of a weird lesson in fate, can you go over how that happened?

Kiran: We were both in weird places in our careers and kind of disgruntled about the music business. I was tired of working with everyone I knew and I wanted to meet someone new and get a fresh start, so I put an ad up on Craig's List and she [Shana] answered.

Shana: It was very out of character for me to even answer an ad. We've worked in similar music circles and stuff, so it was a first time experience with me, but yeah it was really really cool and we wrote one song together, and it was really amazing. It was called Don't Forget to Breathe, and so it worked well.

Kiran: And we promised each other that we were only going to do this for ourselves.

Shana: Yeah, we were going to make this record for ourselves by ourselves if we had to, and we didn't really care what anybody thought about it.

JXM: Was there any pressure from the record company to make your music sound a certain way?

Kiran: No, actually. Quango has been so great and supportive in letting us do what we want.

Shana: At the end of the day, it's exactly how we wanted it to be in terms of compromise, which I think is rare with a record label.

JXM: Are you worried about being labeled as trendy or mainstream?

Shana: Is this how we're labeled [chuckles]? I don't know, we're not really thinking about a label.

Kiran: Everyone is so confused as to what to label us. Some people are scared to call us electronic and some people call us pop. It's been a bit tricky and when you find good music, it doesn't even need a category, you know?

JXM: Reading through the reviews, there are so many different ways that your music is described. You're described as electronica, jazz, hip-hop, trip-hop - would you say its fair to label your music?

Kiran: It is kind of unfair to label it, because we're so much more than just your typical electronic band. It does have that electronic feel, and it takes elements from that but we have so many live musicians, and live strings, so it's definitely more than just electronic.

Shana: It takes elements from every type of music, like hip-hop to rock to old classics to bossanova, so I don't really think it can be labeled as one thing.

JXM: You're also being compared to different bands like Portishead, Zero 7 and Björk. As artists do you ever strive to be described exclusively as yourself?

Shana: I think that people need that [comparison] for some reason, like they don't know how to visualize or process how something is unless they can compare it to something else. If that's what people need to do - associate us with something that is familiar to them then I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I kind of think we're doing our own thing that's a little different than everybody else at the same time.

Kiran: At the same time it's flattering to be compared to some of those bands, because they are absolutely amazing.

Shana: Yeah! There's absolutely nothing wrong with being in that category.

JXM: Your music has been described as being sort of soundtrack-like, as in it evokes a lot of images. When you were creating your music did you perceive the visual aspect in terms of film, videos, and album art?

Kiran: I don't know...subconsciously growing up watching some of these great movies, you wonder how can it not influence it? Like old 70s Blaxploitation films, it all gets in your soul growing up, and it just comes out in weird ways.

Shana: I don't think we wrote this with any intention of associating it with something visual. I know when I was writing some tracks, I would get in a mindset that would put me in a certain era or a certain feeling that would make it go in a certain direction, but it wasn't a visual thing...it was definitely just sonic.

Kiran: And we do try to write music in a cinematic sense in that it is telling a story. So I imagine [films] had some influence.

JXM: There is a stigma attached to electronic music in that it's not as easy to reproduce live. Are you finding that your audiences are reacting well to the sound?

Kiran: Oh definitely, and we actually try to re-create most of what we can live.

Shana: Yeah, we're using a whole band on stage.

Kiran: We're not only trying to recreate it, but we're trying to take it to another level by bringing in different type of musicians. We have a harp player now, a tabla (Indian-drum) player that plays with us live. So it's different from the record, and it even brings it to another level.

Shana: Absolutely, it's not like anyone's sitting back at the computer and key pad and that's the music.

Kiran: Yeah, we have a nine-piece band, so we try to do it.

Shana: And we have created some visual elements to our live show too, and we are trying to add some loops that are really neat clips that compliment the music. So, it's becoming more visual by the moment.

JXM: Are there any artists, either in music, fine art, the movies that inspire you guys?

Kiran: We are influenced by so much, from old Bollywood movies, to Ella Fitzgerald.

Shana: Yeah, absolutely. There's definitely a lot of the old jazz and hip-hop music scene influence in our music.

JXM: Your album seems to be about fate, moving on, or love lost, was that intentional?

Shana: Again, I don't know if it was 'intentional' but it was more just moments in life that have happened. But, definitely I mean a lot of it is about love and relationships and finding your own way on your own feet and your own goals, and finding whatever it is that makes you love, not just in relationships but in life. So it's not to be taken so literally, I guess.

Kiran: Sometimes it's not that intentional, it's just what the universe brings to us.

JXM: Quango is obviously not as large as the monstrous Sony BMG type labels, so is there more of an intimacy in terms of the music making process when you're working with a smaller label?

Shana: Absolutely, I mean we get to go in there whenever we want and sit down and find out what's next and what's going on and how we can help, and it's so personal it's incredible. I think it's a much better route in terms of the music that we do.

Kiran: Yeah, it's not A&R people coming to the studio everyday and listening in, so that pressure isn't there.

JXM: So is there more of a 'real' element to the process with the label?

Shana & Kiran: Oh definitely.

Shana: They're genuinely passionate and it makes us express ourselves better, and if we don't sell a million records that doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to drop us from the label. We're all in it together to really make it grow.

Kiran: And with the majors if they find a band like us, and it's not working in three months, then they're on to the next project. That's definitely not going to happen at Quango - we're getting attention and they are run the way old record businesses were, where they see artists develop over years, not just three months.

Shana: Talk to us three months after our record comes out and we're dropped! (We'll be like, please don't remember that interview!) [Kiran and Shana both laugh]

JXM: Is there anything about the current mainstream music scene that makes you nervous about dropping this album?

Kiran: Well everything is very rock oriented now, and at this time I still feel like everyone is hungry for something they're not getting. The responses we're getting from the fans is that they don't really care what [type] it is...

Shana: I'm a bit nervous because I feel that there's always such a trend of one thing and then there's twenty bands that come out and do that thing and they're the face [of the trend] and then everyone starts counting on that. I think we've been stuck in that time for a while now. Like it started with The White Stripes and it went on and on and on, and its always kind of scary when you're dropping something untraditional on the table.

Kiran: It's hard, because people are always being fed with what the majors are giving them and there's so much good music that goes under the radar to the masses.

JXM: What aspects of your music do you think will make you stand apart from the rest?

Kiran: It's got its own unique sound. Even though each song is so different, you can tell it's Bitter:Sweet.

Shana: That was one of the things that was really cool when we were making the record, we recorded Overdue, which is this funky song - and it had nothing to do with Don't Forget to Breathe, and they shouldn't even have gone on the same album, but then we thought, 'Well, why can't they? Why can't we do whatever we want?' When we first met with Bruno [Guez, Executive Producer] at the label, he wanted a little more consistency, and we kept writing and kept recording whatever we felt whenever we felt it and it became this common thread. That just proves you don't have to stick to one way of doing things, people can actually look at the songs as individuals and it doesn't necessarily have to sound like the one that came before it.

JXM: And it's also really important to have an album that varies, because a consistent album wouldn't make it versatile enough to listen to all the time. The variety could have people listening to the album when they're sad, happy, or whatever they're feeling.

Shana: And that's another thing we've been hearing from people. Everybody has a different favourite song, it's not like everyone has the same favourite song. And that's very cool, it just means that it will appeal to lots of people.

JXM: Do you have your own favourite tracks?

Kiran: It changes, it depends on how moody we are.

JXM: Well there is the track Moody on there right?

Shana: [Laughs] Yeah, that's there for a reason. I think we fell in love with each one as we did it.

Kiran: We get into fights over it. 'How can this be your favourite song? Last week THIS was your favourite song!'

Shana: I'm just going to say no, they're all our children, and we love them all equally.

JXM: Do you have plans to make the album a world-wide release?

Kiran: Yeah we have plans to do that - to make it a world-wide release, and we're working licensing deals in different territories, but right now we want to put all our efforts here, and then maybe in six months or so we'll see.

JXM: Have you thought about touring?

Kiran: We definitely want to, it's just getting out there and doing it, and we're planning to hopefully be in Toronto in the next month, they're having us come up there.

Shana: And Vancouver. We're definitely going to try to look around and try to get a sponsor for the tour, a booking agent and things like that.

JXM: Well thanks a lot guys for talking to us. Best of luck! The album is great and we hope to see you guys up here soon.

Shana: Oh definitely, we will be there.

Kiran: Thanks a lot to you too!