archive of:
solo-multi-track-recordings,
collaborative-duos,
jams & demos

Jangly and glamorous, Bottled Up’s freaked-up art pop is a smoothie of frontman Nikhil Rao’s key obsessions: Suburban Lawns, italo disco, Alan Vega, Television (the band), television (the appliance), Andy Warhol, the entire decade of the ‘80s, Prince’s particular shade of plum purple, his old Tascam 8-track, Factory Records. 
 
Indian-American by way of Oakland and LA, Rao’s the dude-who’s-seen-it-all meets dude-about-town. A sound designer and audio engineer by trade - professionally schooled in the art of film and video game scoring- Rao’s a man informed first by the sort of his journeying one’s got to do when faced with the darknesses of addiction and a twisty adolescence in and out of religious cults. For all of its gleaming guitars and glossy euro-flavored synthwork, Bottled Up’s filled with the mental residue one’s gets after asking the void to fuck off.
 
Co-led with Colin Kelly - a disciple of D.C.’s avant-analog scene - joined by Michael Mastrangelo and Beth Cannon on dueling guitars, and supplanted by Rao’s wunderkid brother, Rohit, on acid-jazz-does-punk drums, Bottled Up conjures the sort of psycho-potpurri-spirit that’s only given to the sort of band that’s able to conjure a vision of the things they love, the mountains they’ve overcome, and mutate it all into something you can dance to. 

Artwork for Crystal LP by Daya Ramesh
Artwork for BU2 by Allison Demoss

Featured in American Songwriter, Billboard Pride, NewNowNext, and Aquarian Weekly, Seán Barna is helping define the art of queer storytelling through songwriting. NPR's Bob Boilen, host of the Tiny Desk Concerts and podcast All Songs Considered, said Barna is, "a thrill to see... wearing Ziggy Stardust on his glittery sleeve," while Barna's seminal EP, CISSY, was called "a brilliant, giant statement about modern life and sexuality" by Counting Crows frontman, Adam Duritz.
 
Barna uses empathy, intensity, and his experiences living in NYC and Los Angeles to shine a light on the darker corners of the queer experience. Across his vast catalog, with increasing intensity in recent releases, Barna has sought to describe a time and a place—a scene—through its characters, as they thrive or fall, live or die, stay or leave. In this, he embraces a songwriting tradition that has bloomed at key times throughout history, like Laurel Canyon in the 60s or 70s, or NYC in the 70s, where the art and song grow from the bars and streets, or from the living rooms of intimate friends.

The former drummer of Deaf West Theatre's LA production of Spring Awakening and the national Broadway tour of Mel Brooks’ The Producers, Barna plays drums and rhythm guitar on all of his records, and is the sole songwriter. Sean is currently preparing the release of his second full-length record, An Evening at Macri Park.

This is a collection of some of my old & new music that I play outside of my band More AM Than FM (facebook.com/MoreAMThanFM). I've been recording the newer songs through Garageband, and a PreSonus AudioBox.

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