Duncan Sheik (album)

Sheik recorded around thirty songs for this album with the producer Rupert Hine while working out a deal with Atlantic (who took over his previous contract from Immortal Records), which left around 18 tracks unheard from these sessions. The only outtake from the album which saw the light, "View from the Other Side", was released as a B-side in 1997.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Entertainment Weekly	C+[3]
Rolling Stone	[1]
USA Today	[4]
The Village Voice	C[5]

Kelly McCartney of AllMusic said the album is more than just the single "Barely Breathing", praising Sheik's songwriting for being "richly melodic and thoughtful" and Hine's production for giving the stories life throughout the track listing and multiple emotions that can be interpreted by the listeners, concluding that there is "something for everybody and a great record all around".^[2] James Hunter from Rolling Stone noted how Sheik's musicianship emulated UK acts like Talk Talk and the Smiths, concluding, "He may be enamored of antique pop, but Sheik is never merely retro. This [album] is a defiant debut – beautiful and benevolent of spirit."^[1] Entertainment Weekly writer Steven Mirkin felt that Sheik's vocal performance was too restrained to allow for any "real emotional commitment" for the listeners to get out of the generic lyrics.^[3] The Village Voice critic Robert Christgau dismissed Sheik as a second-rate "matinee idol" and "a whiner stupid enough to fall for the depressed wacko" and "stupid enough to blame it entirely on her", in reference to "Barely Breathing".^[5]

The album was met with commercial success^{[citation needed]} and was Gold-certified. It includes the Grammy-nominated hit single "Barely Breathing", which stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for a record-breaking 55 (consecutive) weeks.^{[citation needed]}