*** Duncan Sheik

DUNCAN SHEIK

(Atlantic)

The third tune on Sheik's debut, "Barely Breathing," is in every way a pop classic. The opening melody rides breezily along on a great acoustic strum, and an E-bow mirrors Sheik's impressively controlled tonal shifts, his breathy falsetto and strong tenor accounting for an effortless two-octave range. The song boasts four great hooks, energetic jumps in key and tempo, and Sheik's mellifluous pipes.

The collection of ballads succeeds because Sheik's technique and emotional assurance create a study in romance without bathos or melodrama. Slides and strings highlight the fluid shifts in vocal register on "The Absence of the Sun." In "The End of Outside," he reworks phrases with Mark Eitzel's tortured passion. The highlight, however, is the poignant "Reasons for Living," in which Sheik's shifting timbres mirror his ambivalence about modern romance. It's a mood that also fades with the sweet wistfulness of the Blue Nile's best.

-- Craig Thorn