''Whisper House'' is the sixth studio album and second musical 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 ...

. It was released on

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

in 2009.

Details

The album, Sheik's first in the wake of success from composing music for the

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

-winning musical '' Spring Awakening'', contains selections from an original stage musical of the same name, with book and additional lyrics by

Kyle Jarrow Kyle Jarrow (born October 7, 1979) is a Los Angeles–based writer and rock musician. Career Writing Jarrow's writing career began in theater, winning an Obie Award with director Alex Timbers in 2004 for '' A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's ...

. The world premiere of the musical occurred January 13, 2010, at

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

Old Globe Theatre The Old Globe is a professional theatre company located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. It produces about 15 plays and musicals annually in summer and winter seasons. Plays are performed in three separate theatres in the complex, which i ...

. Directed by

Peter Askin Peter Askin (born 1940) is an actor, director, producer and screenwriter best known for directing the 2007 film '' Trumbo'', a documentary about the Oscar-winning Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo who was blacklisted for being a member of the Ho ...

, the cast included Arthur Acuna,

Holly Brook Holly Brook Hafermann (born February 23, 1986), known professionally as Skylar Grey, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Mazomanie, Wisconsin. In 2004, at the age of 17, Grey signed a publishing deal with Universal Music ...

, Kevin Hoffman, Ted Koch, David Poe,

Mare Winningham A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four y ...

, and Eric Brent Zutty. Sheik cited influences from part of his childhood spent around

Hilton Head Hilton Head Island, sometimes referred to as simply Hilton Head, is a Lowcountry resort town and barrier island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. It is northeast of Savannah, Georgia, and southwest of Charleston. The island is ...

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

, and recalling its iconic lighthouse and the ghost stories he shared there with friends.

Release

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

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, 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 arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

reports a normalized score of 71% based on 4 reviews. The album's first single, "Earthbound Starlight", debuted via the "Pop Candy" blog on USAToday.com. On Sheik's official website, streaming audio was made available for the album's first single, as well as its first and second tracks, in advance of the album release. Duncan Sheik official website, accessed January 24, 2009
/ref>

Track listing

#"Better to Be Dead" #"We're Here to Tell You" #"And Now We Sing" (feat.

) #"The Tale of Solomon Snell" #"Earthbound Starlight" #"Play Your Part" #"You've Really Gone and Done It Now" #"How It Feels" #"I Don't Believe in You" #"Take A Bow" #"The Ghost In You" (

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

bonus song)

References

{{Authority control 2009 albums Duncan Sheik albums RCA Records albums