Humming
"Barely Breathing," the hit single from Duncan Sheik's 1996 debut, remained on the charts for a record-breaking 55-week spell, but his follow-up album is far from being the sequel to those tortured love songs. This time Sheik visits his art-rock influences with an honesty far more brutal than emotional. With the studio as his playground, he toys with layers of strings, meticulous arrangements, and that familiar, almost haunting voice to create songs--like "Nothing Special" and "Bite Your Tongue"--that say as much about Sheik's own backlash against his romantic image as the larger social issues he's addressing.Humming, laced as it is with anger, is refreshing in its bite. It's not an easy first listen, but that's the whole point.--Rebecca Wallwork