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What to Watch For in 2009

Duncan Sheik is reinvention.

“Barely Breathing,” the artist’s one-off hit from the mid-90’s garnered a Grammy nomination and is still getting spins on AC radio, but Sheik is far from living off his past success. The songwriter has spent the last decade not only regularly releasing pop albums but also experimenting with styles, sounds, technology and venues.

In 2001, Sheik teamed up with poet and fellow-Buddhist Steven Sater to write the experimental album Phantom Moon. The partnership with Sater continued and eventually resulted in the pair releasing Spring Awakening, a full-scale musical that opened on Broadway in 2006 and went on to win multiple Tony Awards including Best Musical and a Grammy.

So what does 2009 hold?

Call it a merging of Sheik’s worlds. Absent from a major record label since 2002, Sheik will release Whisper House on RCA/Victor on January 27th. This project is an album – but it is an album of songs written for yet another Sheik musical. This time, Sheik tackles a World War II ghost story centering on a New England lighthouse. To help with vocal duties, Sheik has enlisted Holly Brooke – best known for her vocal hook on the Fort Minor hip-hop hit, “Where'd You Go.” The two work well as musical counterparts, whether it is somber – as in the opener “It’s Better to Be Dead” - or more freak-folk, like the vibe of “We’re Here to Tell You.”

Hear a sneak preview of 3 of the tracks HERE.

Duncan will be on tour through February and March.

See him in Louisville at the Clifton Center on February 9th. Get details HERE.