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. Deluxe edition bonus tracks
 * 1) "Selling Out" – 3:45
 * 2) "Avalanche" – 4:46
 * 3) "Photograph" – 3:33
 * 4) "Birmingham" – 3:31
 * 5) "Sometimes" – 5:04
 * 6) "Hey You" – 4:19
 * 7) "Warning Light" – 4:21
 * 8) "Distant Lovers" – 4:26
 * 9) "Bicycle Thief" – 4:42
 * 10) "Acquaintance" – 3:52
 * 11) "Brutalized" – 5:03
 * 12) "Circling" – 6:05
 * 13) "Summer Mourning" – 5:25
 * 14) "No Happy End" – 3:52
 * 15) "Half a Room" – 4:56
 * 16) "So There" – 2:14
 * 1) "After All" – 4:58
 * 2) "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