Feeling tired? Low energy? Bored? You might need the 2014 West End Recording of Duncan Sheik’s American Psycho. It begins with:

“It took me 19 years, but I finally developed a good relationship… with my body!”

Suddenly a high, shrill, terrifying shriek. Next comes the synthesizer with a high energy intro. You begin to hear overlapping advertisements from the 1980s. The piano and beat enter the mix and Matt Smith Patrick Bateman starts telling you about his morning shower routine. Only took 30 seconds into the first track to cause my heartrate to rise, and honestly, from then on the entire album carries you through a 1980s electro drug induced party party party haze. And. It’s. Awesome.

Duncan Sheik’s American Psycho was short lived when it premiered in London in 2014, lasting only a few months. And it was even shorter lived less successful with the 2016 Broadway transfer. Poor, poor American Psycho only lasted for 6 weeks on Broadway. I will admit, it’s a strange listen, and perhaps the visuals of the stage production, which are amazing, are needed to fully understand what Sheik was trying to accomplish, musically. To me, that is often a sign that I won’t be impressed by the score. An example of this is Dear Evan Hansen. Great music but the songs could be used for a musical about literally anything. In fact, one might argue that the music doesn’t even quite match the emotional complexity of the story.

But I digress. After his successful freshman Broadway hit musical Spring Awakening, he had raised the bar incredibly high for any future musicals. And it’s obvious that Sheik wanted to try something that wasn’t going to be Spring Awakening 2.0. And, as such, we have American Psycho.

Unlike some Cast Albums, it’s hard for me to point out highlights, as the album feels more like one long song. One of my favorite moments occurs in the first act when the ladies are preparing the party. To highlight the blocking/choreography/lighting, check out the dance break around the 1:45 min mark. First time I saw it my jaw dropped. Worth watching from the beginning for the full experience. Great song.

Overall a great album that often gets overlooked for reasons discussed above. I’m glad it at least got a stellar cast recording, even though the productions were less successful. I would, in all honesty, like Duncan Sheik to take another look at the score in a few years, and maybe give us a American Psycho revised 2.0. I think the score has a decent amount of potential to be even better than it already is. I’ll be looking to see what Sheik works on after Covid lockdown.