You know what? I really hate that I missed this CD when it came
\nout. See, I like Duncan Sheik; I have since his incredible debut
\nsingle, “Barely Breathing,” in 1996. However, I admit to having
\nlost track of him when he released 2001’s
\nPhantom Moon<\/i> with its stripped-down arrangements and heavy
\nNick Drake influence. It seemed that Sheik would forever be a bit
\ntoo quiet for my tastes — which I considered a shame, since he
\nwrote damn fine pop songs.<\/p>\n
Fast forward to 2004. I’m hanging out in my local used record
\nshop and I see Sheik’s 2002 release,
\nDaylight<\/i>, in the resale racks. What the heck; I’ll grab it.
\n(It was a good day that day; I also got Ashley MacIsaac’s 2003
\nDecca debut; that’ll show up here at some point.) It turned out to
\nbe a good move;
\nDaylight<\/i> is one of the tightest and clearest recordings of
\nintelligent pop music I’ve had the privilege to listen to in a long
\ntime.<\/p>\n
The producer on
\nDaylight<\/i>, Patrick Leonard, is probably best known for his
\nwork with Madonna and Elton John. However, if you’re expecting
\nmainstream on this CD, please also remember that Leonard was one
\nhalf of the great progressive pop duo Toy Matinee, whose single
\n1990 CD is one of my favorites. As such, the sound on
\nDaylight<\/i> is a little richer and lusher than past Sheik
\nefforts, but never cloying; you can still, above all else, hear the
\nsongs and the lyrics, and that’s what really matters.<\/p>\n
Sheik’s voice, alternately ironic, expressive, and pensive, is a
\nmagnificent instrument. Understated in its skill, he makes the O.
\nHenry-like twists on songs like “Genius” cut deep. Add in more
\nhooks than a bass tournament, and you have one fine CD. Tracks
\nworth noticing include the single “On A High,” with its Beatlesque
\nwordplay; the elegant “Such Reveries”; and the bitter, biting “Good
\nMorning!” Special praise, though, has to be saved for the
\nheartbreakingingly lovely and devastatingly heartfelt “Half-Life.”
\nThis may be the greatest song Sheik has ever written, and he spares
\nno effort and pulls no punches in slamming it home. The only weak
\npoint on the album, “Magazines,” is merely a less talented
\nreplowing of the field J. Geils tore up in “Centerfold,” but that’s
\nwhat CD programming is for, right?<\/p>\n
\nDaylight<\/i> is an excellent piece of guitar pop, intelligent
\nenough to be worthwhile, but musical enough to be enjoyable. Check
\nit out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":26860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7082],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-38153","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-duncan-sheik","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38153"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}