Describing the creation of Claptrap, Sheik brings up his exploration of the theory of “non-dualism,” “It’s probably no secret to anyone who knows me or my musical output that I have been practicing Nichiren Buddhism since I was nineteen…Nichiren Daishonin, the founder of this form of Buddhism, would, in his writings, often refer to the dichotomies of “mind and body” or “An enlightened being and a common mortal” with the phrase “two but not two.” In other words, those oppositions were two in their apparent manifestation but one in essence - hence, “non-dual.”
As it happened, these two processes of musical experimentation and the study of non-duality started to come together as actual songs with lyrics.” Sheik continues, “It’s possibly a better amalgam of electronic and organic elements, and certainly there are some more adventurous harmonic ideas, but it’s still pop music with some arty pretensions.”
Duncan explains here how he came though the darkness, buoyed by his spirituality, and created this love song to reassure listeners - it's going to be ok in the end.
Stream ‘Maybe’ via YouTube here
Duncan posits that he’s likely not alone in feeling that there was, perhaps, a kind of upside in how the pandemic changed our daily life during that first year. He reflects on the years leading up to 2020, “I probably took on too many things and it ended up putting me in a not great emotional, psychological place. I was pretty overwhelmed in 2017,‘ 18,‘19 working on these theater projects, and the idea of making a record was really distant. So the pandemic, as tragic as it was on so many levels, it was really a blessing for me, because it gave me the space to work. And that became this record.
He continues “...I was at my studio in Garrison, NY, which I had just spent a week reorganizing and reconfiguring, and it hit me that I was free; free to pretty much do whatever the heck I wanted all day, and this was followed by some real, actual gratitude...a recognition that maybe the universal consciousness we are all part of is, as Rupert Spira says without irony, love.”
Duncan Sheik launched his career as a singer/songwriter of adult pop songs on his 1996 self-titled debut album which featured his chart-topping hit “Barely Breathing.” That song racked up 55 consecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned him a Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.
In the years since, Sheik has been celebrated for his work in musical theater, including the groundbreaking success of Spring Awakening, which won eight Tony Awards and a Grammy and is also the subject of the just released HBO Documentary - ‘Spring Awakening: Those You’ve Known.’ Sheik has released eight full-length solo albums which have been praised by both critics and his discerning fans. Plans are underway to perform songs from his new album Claptrap as well as his catalog on tour this summer.
Track list:Scorpios
Apparently
Experience
Good to Know
Maybe
Out from Underneath
You’ll Never Be Alone
Chimera II
Smoke and Mirrors
Isn’t It So
There’s No Telling
Unaware
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