Grammy and Tony award winning songwriter and composer Duncan Sheik adds west coast dates to his June tour to celebrate his upcoming release Covers 80s. Sheik takes on the synth-pop era’s classic and obscure songs on the upcoming album including tracks by Dépêche Mode, Thompson Twins, New Order, The Cure, Love and Rockets, The Smiths, Tears for Fears and more. Recognized for his theatrical Spring Awakening, Sheik makes this return to performing by covering the stand-alone pop songs of his teen years. Sneaky Records/MRI will release the album on June 7 and tour dates will follow this spring. Please see track listing and tour dates below.
Covers 80s features 12 highly personalized takes on the decade’s smashes and lesser known gems. “It is nice to sing these songs that are written by other people…you’re inhabiting this other character that isn’t you, but in this case, it is a part of what made me who I am,” Sheik says. “The litmus test for me for choosing the songs was: Did I really, really care about it when I was 15 or 16?”
Nine of the tracks feature the vocals of singer songwriter Rachel Yamagata. The closing song, “The Ghost in You,” actually dates back to Sheik’s most recent album Whisper House, where it served as a bonus track. Whisper House is collection of songs from a musical of the same name that followed Spring Awakening.
Launching his musical career in 1996 with his self-titled debut Duncan Sheik, he quickly earned a Grammy nomination for “Best Male Vocal.” He subsequently garnered critical accolades for his unique brand of folk-pop music. Sheik’s last studio album was 2006’s White Limousine. He also released a 2-CD collection of songs titled Brighter/Later: A Duncan Sheik Anthology. Sheik then composed the original score and collaborated with lyricist Steven Sater for 2007’s Spring Awakening, which went on to win eight Tony awards. Sheik alone earned two awards for “Best Orchestration” and “Best Original Score” as well as a Grammy award for “Best Musical Show Album.” He followed with musical theater production Whisper House, which was directed by Peter Askin (Hedwig and the Angry Inch) and written by Kyle Jarrow.
DUNCAN SHEIK SPRING TOUR
June 8 Highline Ballroom New York, NY
June 9 Brighton Music Hall Boston, MA
June 11 Birchmere Alexandria, VA
June 12 World Café Live Philadelphia, PA
June 20 Largo Los Angeles, CA
June 22 Anthology San Diego, CA
June 24 Slim’s San Francisco, CA
June 26 Triple Door Seattle, WA
June 28 Mississippi Studios Portland, OR
Track Listing for Covers 80s
“Stripped”—Dépêche Mode
“Hold Me Now”—Thompson Twins
“Love Vigilante”—New Order
“Kyoto”—The Cure
“What Is Love”—Howard Jones
“So Alive”—Love & Rockets
“Shout”—Tears for Fears
“Gentleman Take Pictures”—Japan
“Life’s What You Make It”—Talk Talk
“William It Was Really Nothing”—The Smiths
“Stay”—The Blue Nile
“The Ghost in You”—Psychedelic Furs
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