“I can’t believe I answered an ad,” Halligan 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 Shahani, who, as a founding member of the Supreme Beings of Leisure (SBL), was largely responsible for their self-titled debut (the one that broke the electronic/trip-hop group by selling more than 250,000 copies worldwide). After breaking away from SBL, Shahani had been toiling away in his studio doing remixes for artists like Marilyn Manson and Angela McClusky (Telepopmusik).
Although he had plenty of work on his hands, Shahani longed to collaborate with someone who “had the right chemistry” to match his globally-inspired, finely tuned and optimistic musical aesthetic.
And that’s why he placed the 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 revealed. “The energy around what we did was so natural and fluid, we just kept doing it.”
The Mating Game, as a result, echoes of each musician’s past (and eventual future) is revealed in infectious songs like the sultry, exotic opening track “Don’t Forget To Breathe,” which sets the tone for the entire album.
Thank goodness for the title, by the way, as it is quite capable of leaving one sitting slack-jawed with headphones on and totally breathless.
“Moving Forward” is one of Shahani’s favorites “for its amazing vocal performance” and is a track that Halligan seems to have a deep emotional attachment to. Either that, or she can just “turn it on” and sing the hell out of a sing, at the drop of a hat.
Solid production and a “Vegas” cool is the calling card of the album’s title track. Halligan’s father helped to write, arrange and conduct the strings on this song (as well as the aforementioned songs, actually) as well as the angelic song “Bittersweet Faith.” It just — well, if ever a song came equipped with the sass of a big band and the brass of James Bond, then this is it.
Article comments
1 - Connie Phillips
Congrats! This article has been forwarded to the Advance.net websites.
2 - Ben Miraski
So, here I am, 8 months after this was published... Why am I just discovering this awesome loungey, Bond-esque album now?
Thank Indiefeed podcasts for throwing the Mating Game remix on their daily song fest.
This album is amazing. I hesitate to say a great soundtrack for a party, or a little private after party. Amazing breathy vocals, awesome orchestration. Get this. Now!