Tuesday morning, you may have noticed something alongside your morning (non-fat, double-shot, soy, no-foam, sugar-free vanilla) latte. On May 13th, Starbucks released Bitter:Sweet’s Drama (Quango) iTunes Digital Release card. We were lucky enough to skip the line and sit down with Shana Halligan and Kiran Shahani of Bitter:Sweet, sans java, whose jazz inspired electronica has been slowly seeping into public consciousness via shows like "Grey’s Anatomy," commercials for Victoria’s Secret, and movies like The Devil Wears Prada. And since they recently landed the theme song to "Lipstick Jungle," we’d venture to say you sort of knew them before you actually knew them.

Like so many nights before, the ever innocent “after work cocktail” slides into pre-show tequila shots with a band, crashing an awards ceremony, and the notion of staying in and getting caught up with Gossip Girl is somehow replaced by the thump of bass and the clink of glasses. GG will have to wait. Last night I came to the Highline Ballroom to do what we writers call "work." I was interviewing the buzzy band Bitter:Sweet, whose albums have been securing a lot of airtime on shows like Grey’s Anatomy, not to mention the theme song for Lipstick Jungle. I’m instructed prior to the interview that I cannot actually stay for the show, as it’s a “private engagement.” I take it in stride, drinking a bottle of water as I sit through Bitter:Sweet’s sound check, which is quite entertaining in itself.

Drawing on full string ensembles and their undeniable Portishead bent, Bitter:Sweet’s Kiran Shahani and Shana Halligan offer too intricate a blend of eclectic beats and jazzy vocals to be categorized as electronica proper. They fuse traditional electronic sounds with a wide array of more classic instrumentals, oscillating between tracks like “Sugar Mama”, reminiscent of a Feist/Serge Gainsbourg marriage, and “Trouble,” which could almost pass as a revamped James Bond anthem. Continuing the individualized, more-sweet-than-bitter sound that garnered so much attention on their debut album, Bitter:Sweet’s sophomore record Drama, eases us into the summer spirit, one horn set at a time.