Duncan Sheik

Duncan Sheik, the folk/pop artist always identified with 1996's smash hit "Barely Breathing," has more to offer than pop radio hits. Whisper House is proof of it. The album serves as musical/lyrical accompaniment for a play of the same name. Written by Sheik, Kyle Jarrow and story creator Keith Powell (Toofer on NBC's 30 Rock), the story involves a young boy who believes that the ghosts of dead musicians haunt the lighthouse in which he lives. And damn, the album serves as one hell of a score for such a story!

You'll feel cold winds and sea breeze, as well as experiencing visions of apparitions partially hidden in fog. "The Tale of Solomon Snell" alone–with its creepy, yet infectious, chorus of "Ring the bell, ring the bell…"–will haunt your dreams. Whisper House is an album that is dark, yet graceful, chilling, yet beautiful and features stellar songwriting that moves between relatively upbeat ("We're Here to tell You") and majestically sorrowful ("Better Off Dead"), and all of it is memorable. The female vocal accompaniment of Holly Brook is brilliant; her sweetly melancholic voice is the album's "X" factor. Whisper House will make you want to see the play. It's that good.

—Scott Alisoglu
02.22.09

A dalliance with Broadway reinvigorated Duncan Sheik, winning him a Tony and opening up the new artistic avenues he pursues on Whisper House, his first album since the award-winning production of Spring Awakening and his 2006 LP, White Limousine. Whisper House falls somewhere between those two extremes, being a dramatic piece that plays a lot like a classic '70s singer/songwriter album, especially when the opener, "It's Better to Be Dead," unfolds quietly yet dramatically in the tradition of early Elton John. Whisper House rarely gets this grand, either in its production or its intent. It's an intimate affair, with the many duets with singer/songwriter Holly Brook playing like overheard conversations, but as carefully considered as the narrative is, what makes Whisper House work is that it functions as a pop album. It can be broken up into small, digestible pieces -- the ten tunes are either delicate folk numbers or surprisingly sprightly pop tunes -- and it can be appreciated as a concise collection of catchy straightforward songs that build upon each other. Indeed, among Sheik's albums this ranks among the best, showcasing his subtle skills and sense of quiet adventure in ways his sometimes fussy earlier records never did. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide