''Phantom Moon'' is the third album by American singer-songwriter

Duncan Sheik Duncan Sheik (born November 18, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and composer. Sheik is known for his 1996 debut single " Barely Breathing", which earned him a Grammy Award nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. He has composed m ...

. It was released on

Nonesuch Records Nonesuch Records is an American record company and label owned by Warner Music Group, distributed by Warner Records (formerly called Warner Bros. Records), and based in New York City. Founded by Jac Holzman in 1964 as a budget classical label, No ...

in 2001.

Recording

The album was a collaboration between Sheik and poet/playwright

Steven Sater Steven Sater is a Tony Award, Grammy Award, and Laurence Olivier Award-winning American poet, playwright, lyricist, television writer and screenwriter. He is best known for writing the book and lyrics for the Tony Award-winning 2006 Broadway musi ...

, who wrote the lyrics for the album. ''Phantom Moon'' is considered a tribute of sorts to Nick Drake and his album ''

Pink Moon ''Pink Moon'' is the third and final studio album by the English musician Nick Drake, released in the UK by Island Records on 25 February 1972. It was the only one of Drake's studio albums to be released in North America during his lifetime. ...

''. The album features contributions from the

London Session Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...

, and from guitarist

Bill Frisell William Richard Frisell (born March 18, 1951) is an American jazz guitarist, composer and arranger. Frisell first came to prominence at ECM Records in the 1980s, as both a session player and a leader. He went on to work in a variety of contexts ...

. In addition, percussion is very spare, which helped create a mood of contemplation and spirituality that supports the lyrical content.

Release

The album was met with little commercial success, but favorable reviews. Review aggregating website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

reports a normalized score of 76% based on 7 reviews. According to

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

, ''Phantom Moon'' is "easily Sheik's strongest, and most mature record to date". ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' wrote that the album "casts a lovely, languid shadow", while ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' wrote that it is "an album of moods to set you drifting and dreaming". ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'' noted the album's "intimate lamentations", adding, "with one's feet up and headphones on, the strings suddenly shimmer, and the warm vocals soothe".

Track listing

All songs written by Steven Sater & Duncan Sheik. # "The Wilderness" (Prelude) – 1:24 # "Longing Town" – 3:27 # "Mr. Chess" – 2:38 # "The Winds That Blow" – 3:04 # "Mouth on Fire" – 5:37 # "Sad Stephen's Song" – 6:28 # "Time and Good Fortune" – 4:43 # "Far Away" – 4:32 # "This Is How My Heart Heard" – 4:13 # "A Mirror in the Heart" – 4:08 # "Lo and Behold" – 5:13 # "Requiescat" – 3:58 # "The Wilderness" – 4:24

References

{{Authority control 2001 albums Duncan Sheik albums Nonesuch Records albums