Duncan Sheik

“Lately I've been a workaholic. I'm in the studio all the time and I've helped to produce a couple of artists.”

“But really important, perhaps most important is the craft; how you make your record, the creation of these sonic worlds you want your listener to hear.”

“My second record was all about big ideas - I was trying to make big statements about the culture, about life. I think in a certain way, I was a 27 year old kid with a guitar.”

“I privilege the music over the lyrics.”

“The difficult thing about a pop record is that you're given guidelines: it has to have 3 choruses, and then it must be between 3 minutes fifteen seconds and three minutes forty-five seconds.”

“My first two records were more energetic; Phantom Moon is subtle, quiet; so these various reactions are just something I expected.”

“Things come to me pretty regularly. There is never a shortage or a backlog.”

“I'd have these weird experiences where I'd just be walking down the street with this chord progression in my head, this happened more than a few times, and I'd walk home and find a fax in my machine and it would match the music in my head.”

“I try to make sure that the Buddhism is more or less implicit in the music rather than explicit.”

“Because of my Buddhist practice, I'm never lacking for inspiration.”

“I think my Buddhist practice has a profound influence on my life and encompasses my creative projects.”

“I also wanted to make a record that was about other things than romance, yeah, after two years on the road singing all the songs from the first album, I got kind of tired of that.”

“I make the kind of music I like.”

“Simon Hale, the British arranger, does all string and wood arrangements on my records.”

“I'm fortunate I have this coterie of musicians around me to help take music to next level. Being surrounded by so much creative energy, so many creative people really feeds that creativity in me.”

“I actually am always a music first person.”

“So I started chanting when I was nineteen, which was about twelve years ago, and it really had a huge impact on my outlook, happiness, and general creativity.”

“A real foolproof way to do it is play your stuff by hook or by crook and build up a grass roots following.”

“If I were to do this over I'd play a lot more shows before I made a record.”

“I certainly wouldn't say that my life is a disaster, but there have been moments where I've felt like that.”