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Jon Bream
Star Tribune
Friday, April 6, 2001
Singer/songwriter Duncan Sheik plans to use Minneapolis to try something new.
Working with only an acoustic guitarist, he has to figure out a way to
incorporate material from his hauntingly
understated new album, "Phantom Moon," into a nightclub format.
"Because it's the first show, there's a lot of things that get worked out
out along the
way," said Sheik, who returns Monday to Mineapolis' Fine Line Music Cafe.
"So you
can expect a lot of mistakes and funny comedy bits during the show."
He's joking. He knows that Fine Line crowds often are divided between careful
listeners and, um, socializers.
"It won't be the first time that I've struggled with this issue," Sheik
said Tuesday from
Hamburg, Germany. "Hopefully, I am road-savvy enough to make sure the energy
is up
when it needs to be and that I can let it go down when they're going to
follow me
there."
Sheik promises to play songs from each of his three albums, including the
1997 hit
"Barely Breathing." He might even toss in some Nick Drake numbers. The
late British singer/songwriter's
melancholic style was an inspiration for "Phantom Moon," a meditative collection
that could be described as
ambient chamber pop, or art-songs for Gen X.
"Even though it is 'a little arty,' the songs are not inaccessible; I'm
not being atonal," Sheik said of the album
that was released on the arty-oriented label Nonesuch instead of Atlantic,
his usual pop label. The disc has
received glowing notices, with the New York Times calling it "the most
entrancing collection of pop dream
songs since Nick Drake's 1969 'Five Leaves Left.'"
The project started when Sheik met New York playwright Steven Sater, 38,
at a Buddhist organization. He
asked Sheik, 31, to write some music to go with lyrics culled from his
play "Umbrage."
Sater never had written songs, and Sheik had always penned his own lyrics.
They worked separately, with
Sater faxing lyrics and Sheik then writing music. One of the songs was
incorporated into the play, and the
rest became "Phantom Moon."
MORE MUSICALS
Sheik found this process less painstaking than writing his own songs. Moreover,
he was more enthusiastic
about singing someone else's words.
"I was able to let myself go because it wasn't my work. Musically and in
terms of the performance, it's
probably more personal than what I had done before."
Sheik said that Sater has since adapted the play into a screenplay and
that there are plans for an indie film
featuring "Phantom Moon" music.
Although Sheik is midway into writing a modern-sounding pop album for 2002,
he and Sater are collaborating
on a musical adaptation of Frank Wedekind's 1891 play, "Spring Awakening."
And Sater, who has had a few
of his plays staged in the Twin Cities, has been talking to Children's
Theatre Company about developing a
musical version of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Nightingale" with Sheik.
"Steven is going to try to have [CTC folks] come to the show," the singer said of Monday's tour opener.
They'll be the quiet people listening intently.
DUNCAN SHEIK
Opening: Fisher
When: 9 p.m. Mon.
Where: Fine Line Music Cafe, 318 1st Av. N., Mpls.
Tickets: $17.50. 612-338-8100.
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