This album sounds like everything. Alright, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but to anyone who's heard the entire thing all the way through, you can probably agree. But this review isn't for all of you who know what this sounds like, this is for those of you that are sitting at your computer, thinking about purchasing this. Why should you? Why should you indeed. I'll break it down.
1. Kiran Shahani (the male half) used to be part of Supreme Beings of Leisure.
2. Shana Halligan (the female half) has a voice that is sometimes reminiscent of Esthero, sometimes reminiscent of Goldfrapp, and probably a ton of other like-styled singers all balled up into a pretty red-headed package.
3. If you like Esthero, Portishead, Supreme Beings of Leisure, Goldfrapp, Lazy, the Herb Alpert remix project, Fluke, Moloko (or just the singer, Roisin Murphy), you will love this album.
4. Each song caters to a different audience while still remembering everyone who listened to the last song.
While it remains tough to pick a favorite, the song that "broke" me to this group was "Dirty Laundry". Never before have I been so in-touch, so supportive, so...enamored with a self-professed bad girl. Shana coos the line "and when he needs an alibi he can use me...all night" with a feminine shyness that would make Nicole Kidman a la Moulin Rouge blush. And you wouldn't exactly be wrong in calling The Mating Game the hidden soundtrack to Moulin Rouge, either. The entire album plays through like a dirty secret that you're almost eager to share with everyone just so they know how innocent you aren't.