Duncan Sheik Quotes

Ultimately, if I’m really moved by something, it’s going to go on the record and that’s that.

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

The experiences of promoting my first album were really something; there is so much illusion in my environment (touring and pop music) that I wanted to clear away.

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.

So, once I’ve written a song, you know, I’m pretty happy with what the song is on its own terms.

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.

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

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.

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

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

It’s inevitable your environment will influence what you do.

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

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’m a pretty big P.J. Harvey record fan and you can really hear New York in his record.

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 wouldn’t say that I’ve had a tough life by any stretch of the imagination.

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

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

I think in a way I was probably completely naive about what it takes to make something become a hit.

I started playing music at a pretty young age.