Shana Halligan, former member of electronic pop duo Bitter:Sweet, is back from a two year European stint and has embarked on an inspired solo career.  In her small-scale homecoming show at the Bootleg Theatre, she proved to a select group of loyal Los Angeles fans that she hasn’t lost the seductive charm and jazz-sensibility that initially brought her success.  Her new material off of Richmond Parade was just as dance-inducing as Bitter:Sweet classics “The Mating Game” and “Dirty Laundry.”  Throughout her set, the hypnotic ease of her young but not-so-innocent voice was backed by a sonic collage of live instruments and shimmering synths that buzzed and swirled artfully.

Despite the dissolution of her partnership with Kiran Shahani, Shana Halligan continues to create a fresh flavor of danceable and cultured electro music.  In her return to the States, she manifests an exceptional vitality and spirit of triumph, claiming new independence as a solo artist.  While she has focused her musical identity, the playfulness and eclecticism of her sound mounts.  She appreciated the audience for letting her “experiment” and added a harp player for the encore, emphasizing her trademark hybrid of electronic and organic textures.  Lovers of intelligent electro-pop look out, the music of Shana Halligan is increasingly daring and infectious.  She warns the world with a lyric in her single “Listen” that says it all: “now that I have got you I won’t let you go.”