Duncan Sheik - Phantom Moon
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Duncan SheikEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2001-02-27
Music Label: Nonesuch
Soundtracks:
- The Wilderness (Prelude)
- Longing Town
- Mr. Chess
- The Winds That Blow
- Mouth On Fire
- Sad Stephen's Song
- Time And Good Fortune
- Far Way
- This Is How My Heart Heard
- A Mirror In The Heart
- Lo And Behold
- Requiescat
- The Wilderness
Free Music Notes for Phantom Moon
Free Music Review: I don't know who I'm kidding, imagining you'll care, but....
Hit: 4 Stars
This is not actually a review of "Phantom Moon", but a mini-rant in the defense of Duncan Sheik's some-years-ago hit "Barely Breathing", which is described by the reviewer up top as "catchy but ultimately forgettable."
I realize that Amazon is not a forum for readers to argue with each other, but I just can't let that one pass.
There is no sense in dismissing "Barely Breathing" just because it is popular, any more than there is sense in overvalueing Sheik's successive work because it is not. While it certainly does not hold that "good" music will always succeed while "bad" music will always submerge into obscurity (actually I often think the opposite is true), in this case the song hit because it really was good. In other words, it has resonance because it resonated. That is why I still hear it on the radio, and rightly so.
One of my favorite writers, George Orwell, wrote that the best books tell you what you already know. What he really meant, of course, was that the best books tell you what you already felt, but were unable to bring into words yourself. The same goes for songs and song lyrics. Think about it:
I know what you're doing
I see it all to clear
I only taste the same when i kiss away your tears
You really had me going wishing on a star
But the black holes that surrounded you are heavier by far
I believed in your confusion you were so completely torn
It must've been that yesterday was the day that i was born
There's not much to examine there's nothing left to hide
You really can't be serious you hafta ask me why
I say goodbye...?
Cause I am barely breathing
And I can't find the air
Don't know who I'm kidding
Imagining you care
And I could stand here waiting
A fool for another day
I don't suppose it's worth the price worth the price
The price that I would pay
(But I'm thinking it over anyway)
Everyone keeps asking what's it all about?
I used to be so certain and I can't figure out
What is this attraction? I only feel the pain
There's nothing left to reason and only you to blame
Will it ever change?
Is there person alive that hasn't experienced this for themselves in their own love life? I sure as hell have. And obviously Sheik has too: what make it special is way he communicates that common experience. He knows he's a fool; he knows he should leave; it's ridiculous to pay such a price; yet he is "thinking it over, anyway." And after all this, "I've come to find/I may never know/your changing mind/is it friend or foe?/I rise above/or sink below/every time/you come and go/please don't come and go." Again, he expresses the thought we all have from time to time, that the person we're sharing our bed with is in the end a complete stranger to us; and that the power we voluntarily give to those we love can be used for pain as much as pleasure.
And that, my fellow fans, is not "forgettable."
Here endeth the rant.
Phantom Moon Poster
Still remembered primarily for the catchy, but ultimately forgettable single "Barely Breathing" off his self-titled debut record, Duncan Sheik's Phantom Moon continues down the same, increasingly melancholic road he began to chart in earnest on his 1998 sophomore effort, Humming. Here, Sheik slows everything down and wrings bittersweet romance from these songs, which feature lyrics written by New York playwright Steven Sater. Embellished with pianos, strings, and occasional, understated drum work, the music Sheik puts around Sater's poetic stories is moody but not acutely passionate. While his expression is heartfelt, it always feels like he's just passing through these sentiments. Songs like "Mouth on Fire," while lovely and sonically intriguing, never attain those touches of intense individuality that mark the best troubadours. Nevertheless, Moon is a solid effort, and it shows off Sheik's growing musical prowess and confidence. Perhaps he simply needs life to throw him a few more low balls before his work finds the sad, brilliant heart it, for now, only alludes to. --Matthew CookeAlternative Rock Music CDs
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