Duncan Sheik

The premise of the CD/DVD combo of White Limousine is that someone can first listen to the CD as “intended” and then fire up the DVD in a computer, load a special program and change or remix the album’s songs however they’d like. It’s either a gimmick to hype the new album of a songwriter who hasn’t had a hit since 1996’s “Barely Breathing” or the brave new future of music. In a time when record companies are doing everything they can to limit the use of their artists’ music, it’s at least a welcome novelty.

But as a listener the opportunity to edit is inescapable; while listening to the album I kept thinking of things to change. Would I chop a few minutes off of the lethargic album opener “Hey Casanova”? How about swapping the opening lines of “Shopping” with the (hopefully) sarcastic, “Hope that you don’t find it shocking/Rock ‘n’ Roll is built on shopping/If you’re searching for my soul/Come check out my chains of gold” from later in the song? Or would I jump straight to creating mash-ups? Perhaps supplanting Sheik’s smooth but sometimes wan tracks of vocals with something more upbeat like that guy from the Gorillaz? The opportunities to improve the album are endless and easy, but frankly I wish they weren’t so enticing.