Quotes By Duncan Sheik

I'm a pretty big P.J. Harvey record fan and you can really hear New York in his record.

The experiences of promoting my first album were really something; there is so much illusion in my environment (touring and pop music) that I wanted to clear away.

I think in a way I was probably completely naive about what it takes to make something become a hit.

I actually think sadness and darkness can be very beautiful and healing.

I feel fortunate about being able to make the music I want to make and getting away with it.

I wouldn't say that I've had a tough life by any stretch of the imagination.

So, once I've written a song, you know, I'm pretty happy with what the song is on its own terms.

And frankly, when I made that record, hit songs were not what I was trying to achieve.

A real foolproof way to do it is play your stuff by hook or by crook and build up a grass roots following.

I privilege the music over the lyrics.

I started playing music at a pretty young age.

Simon Hale, the British arranger, does all string and wood arrangements on my records.

Happy music doesn't tend to move me much.

Things come to me pretty regularly. There is never a shortage or a backlog.

It's inevitable your environment will influence what you do.

I also wanted to make a record that was about other things than romance, yeah, after two years on the road singing all the songs from the first album, I got kind of tired of that.

Ultimately, if I'm really moved by something, it's going to go on the record and that's that.

I got a publishing deal with BMG, they were supportive, and some money to record demos.

I try to make sure that the Buddhism is more or less implicit in the music rather than explicit.

I think my Buddhist practice has a profound influence on my life and encompasses my creative projects.

So I started chanting when I was nineteen, which was about twelve years ago, and it really had a huge impact on my outlook, happiness, and general creativity.

Lately I've been a workaholic. I'm in the studio all the time and I've helped to produce a couple of artists.

The difficult thing about a pop record is that you're given guidelines: it has to have 3 choruses, and then it must be between 3 minutes fifteen seconds and three minutes forty-five seconds.

If I were to do this over I'd play a lot more shows before I made a record.

I certainly wouldn't say that my life is a disaster, but there have been moments where I've felt like that.

My second record was all about big ideas - I was trying to make big statements about the culture, about life. I think in a certain way, I was a 27 year old kid with a guitar.

My first two records were more energetic; Phantom Moon is subtle, quiet; so these various reactions are just something I expected.

I'm fortunate I have this coterie of musicians around me to help take music to next level. Being surrounded by so much creative energy, so many creative people really feeds that creativity in me.

I mean, at the end of the day when I'm making a record, what I want to do is what I do.

I actually am always a music first person.