Legerdemain (album)

Legerdemain is a 2015 studio album by American singer-songwriter Duncan Sheik. The album has received positive reviews from critics and is a transitional one for Sheik as a songwriter, borrowing from his love of electronic music as well as his work scoring musical theater. The music was written contemporaneously to scoring American Psycho, and is his first album of original popular music in almost a decade and was supported by live performances around his Broadway theatre schedule.

Reception

Editors at AllMusic rated this album 4 out of 5 stars, with critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine writing that while this album "may carry some of the sighing melodicism and soft, hazy surfaces that turned [Sheik] into a AAA smash... [Ledgerdemain] is a... like a hybrid between his Broadway work... and his 2011 salute to the '80s" with the "gravity of a stage production" and new wave music sounds. Jim Allen of NPR's First Listen wrote that there was an "ambition and uncompromising nature" to this music with an "unpredictable nature" that shows that Sheik "cares little about the songs' commercial potential". In Paste, Laura Stanley rated this work a 6.6 out of 10, stating that while "the diverseness of the record is praiseworthy, its immensity is obvious and ultimately fumbles the delivery rather than using sleight of hand as the album title would suggest".

Track listing

All songs written by Duncan Sheik.

"Selling Out" – 3:45
"Avalanche" – 4:46
"Photograph" – 3:33
"Birmingham" – 3:31
"Sometimes" – 5:04
"Hey You" – 4:19
"Warning Light" – 4:21
"Distant Lovers" – 4:26
"Bicycle Thief" – 4:42
"Acquaintance" – 3:52
"Brutalized" – 5:03
"Circling" – 6:05
"Summer Mourning" – 5:25
"No Happy End" – 3:52
"Half a Room" – 4:56
"So There" – 2:14

Deluxe edition bonus tracks

"After All" – 4:58
"Wish for the Sun" – 5:06

Personnel

Duncan Sheik – guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, percussion, tape echo, piano, marimba, organ, vocals, additional engineering, production
Nora Ariffin – photography
Milo Decruz – bass guitar on "Hey You"
John Duckworth – creative direction
Nyla Durdin – backing vocals
Thomas Freeman – creative direction
Jason Hart – keyboards
Jon Hassell – trumpet on "Brutalized" and "No Happy End"
Marshall Hudson – album package design
Stitch – album package design
Michael Tudor – engineering; mixing at Mama's Place, Woodstock, New York, United States; additional production; mastering at Mama's Place
Alvin Witarsa – violin on "So There"
Doug Yowell – drums