AMG Review of Brighter: A Duncan Sheik Collection

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All Music Guide

In October of 2006, Rhino released a double-disc Duncan Sheik retrospective called Brighter/Later, which divided his work into the lighter, poppier tunes ("brighter") and moodier, introspective material ("later"). Five months later, the Brighter disc was spun off into its own individual release, which made some sense because it contained most of the music that was of interest to casual fans who may not have wanted to invest the time, energy, or dollars in a two-disc set. As such, this single-disc Brighter winds up being a bet for these listeners, the ones who like "Barely Breathing" and want to hear more, but for those who want a fuller portrait of Sheik as a singer/songwriter, they should turn to the original double-disc anthology.