In Praise of Duncan Sheik Aimee Mann will be performing at Irving Plaza in a few weeks. I've been trying to secure tickets for a week now, and it seems all kinds of sold out. What makes the lack of satisfaction even worse is that Duncan Sheik is opening for Aimee. What you say? Duncan "I am Barely Breathing" Sheik? Japhy, I thought you were cool. Okay, I know, I know- nobody thinks I'm cool, but Duncan is. Since his 1996 one-hit-wonder debut, Duncan has really matured. Yes, he's pop as all get out, but he's intelligent, fun, charming pop. While Christina might be the girl for you if you want to spend your night with hot and sweaty Mexican wrestlers, Duncan creates the kind of pop music you want to wake up next to in the morning. His Nick Drake-ish tunes are intimate and grand at once, the sound of a guitar plucking against a background of lush strings. Duncan Sheik creates pop music for people who hate pop music. Oh, and he kind of looks like John Cusack too :-) His latest album, Daylight, a return to a more pop-rock-folk sensibility after his experimental Phantom Moon, is out now. For those of you with no scruples, here are some songs from various Duncan albums' you should download: Songbird- If you need a song to convert you, this cover of the Fleetwood Mac song is it. Set against lilting strings, Duncan's voice carries the sincerity of lines like " To you, I will never be cold- 'cuz I feel like when I'm with you I know it's alright, I know it's right." In anyone else's hands (even Stevie Nicks') these declarations would seem cheezy and over the top, however Sheik's interpretation turns doey-eyed infatuation into meaningful promise. On a High- You may have heard this song already, as it is the first single from Daylight. The most pop of all these selections with lines like "If you're fine, then you're fine, it's all how you see it", it is anthem to taking a Zen approach to love, set to tambourine's and a kick drum bass line. If you want a pop song that doesn't talk down to you, this is it - currently my "Let's play over and over" song. This is How My Heart Heard- "That little thing in tears, we call the truth" Quiet, moody and introspective, this is a fantastic break-up song, because unlike most songs of the genre, this song hits more than one note; it captures the full range of loss, from pain to acceptance to the bittersweet thing that remains after it is all washed away. "I forgot the taste of fears and now they haunt the lips of who you're kissing" Mr. Chess- Unlike most pop stars, Duncan writes his own songs. In this simple guitar and piano song, you can see that even stripped away from orchestration, Duncan shows how great songs have no need for decoration. Start Again- From his latest album, Duncan pushes the amps up a few notches to create a road-trip worthy rock ballad with fantastic riffs that seem constantly on the verge of spilling over into chaos. Sad Stephen's Song- A wary bass line starts this ballad, a tribute to Nick Drake. Incredibly haunting, Duncan combines childhood dreams of mermaids who transform into sirens that call the listener to adulthood and back again- a vibrato that reverberates between innocence and experience. From Amazon.com:

posted by Japhy at 1/23/2003 12:06:00 PM || #