Duncan Sheik
Finding Air (Atlantic)
By: Caitlin Richling
With his new self-titled debut album featuring the hit "Barely Breathing", Duncan Sheik is having no trouble finding the air."I'm just into fresh sounds," says the 26-year-old Sheik. "....Songs people can sink their teeth into." Well, Sheik certainly has some fresh sounds. In fact, he has scored himself a top 10 hit with "Barely Breathing" and his latest single "She Runs Away" isn't doing too badly either.
Sheik got into the piano at around the time he learned to speak... very, very early. Even before high school he already had lots of musical experience. He played at a classical and jazz summer camp. Before attending Brown University, Duncan was "just" a lead guitarist in a couple of bands. But, at Brown, he met Lisa Loeb. They worked together for a year and Duncan started singing. Then they both decided to go solo.
After graduation, he drove cross country to L.A. and by Christmas, "I had this quote unquote hundred thousand dollar record deal." He made a demo at Brown that somehow had made its way into the industry circles. Soon after, though, Duncan decided it wasn't the right label for him. For the next two years he was "miserable." No record deal and no where to sing and play.
"But the good part," Sheik explains, "is that I wrote like mad during that time. We had 25 songs to chose from by the time we were ready to make this record." Duncan was freed from the original deal and signed with Atlantic.
Duncan wrote all the songs on the album. He also sang lead, some of the backround vocals, played many guitars, a few keyboards and accordian. This is very much a solo album, and if it is any sign of where Sheik is going, he has a great future in music.
