I saw Imogen Heap on Sunday for the first time since she performed at the Fox Theatre in Colorado back in 2006. I was blown away then by the eccentric ingenuity and musical explosion that is Imogen Heap, and last night was no different. Imogen performed as part of the live radio show, E-Town, which gives viewers an intimate look at featured artists. Musicians perform 5-6 songs and are interviewed by the host in front of a live audience. Imogen connected immediately with fans both with her quirky humor and by revealing unfiltered thoughts, whether it be her nervousness or how she commands her various gadgets, all with that alluring English accent.
Here are some tracks off Imogen’s latest album, Ellipse(2009), recorded in the basement studio of her elliptically shaped family home, which she bought several years ago. Coincidentally, the studio used to be her old play room! Love it.
Her music is gorgeously layered, atmospheric, electro pop filled with sound effects, bizarre instruments, and Imogen’s achingly ethereal voice. Her vocals, with the use of layering, become a shimmering orchestra of breathy coos, chirps, whispers and hums. Each song is heavily produced, incorporating elements of dance, rock and electronica, all with a feminine edge. In addition to manipulating electronic sounds, she works with organic ones, maybe water dripping or the sonorous ring induced by spinning her finger around the top of wine glass. Imogen constantly pushes her own sonic limits, which makes the music so endlessly captivating and mesmerizing, sending you adrift into a land of her own invention. You can feel her perfectionism and the pressure she places upon herself within each masterfully crafted sonic masterpiece.
Sunday evening, she played barefoot among an array of keyboards, laptops, gongs, a keytar, an Array mbira (based on the African thumb piano), and the curious “hang” – a flying saucer shaped, harmonically tuned steel idiophone. This quote from a 2005 interview, perfectly describes the soul behind the sounds. “I just love crafting and shaping sounds. Actually, many of the sounds that I work with start off as organic instruments – guitar, piano, clarinet, etc. But I do love the rigidity of electronic drums… I would record live drums, and then I would spend a day editing them to take the life out of them. I like to breathe my own life into these sounds, and I do try to keep the ‘air’ in the music. Some people think electronic music is cold, but I think that has more to do with the people listening than the actual music itself.”
The London songstress did not get on well with the music teacher at her boarding school, so she resorted to teaching herself sequencing, music engineering, sampling and production on Atari computers. She went on to study at the BRIT School of Performing Arts & Technology. Imogen made her solo debut at the celebrated Prince’s Trust Concert in Hyde Park in 1996, during which she performed four songs between sets by none other than The Who and Eric Clapton. i Megaphone came out in 1998, but she didn’t hit the spotlight until her electronic duo Frou Frou found itself with a song on Garden State soundtrack in 2004. 2005′s Speak for Yourself was inspired by her recent divorce and features the intoxicating single, Hide and Seek. I actually found out about Imogen from my 16-year-old cousin who told me that playing Hide and Seek during dance performances was all the rage. Both “Goodnight and Go” and “Hide and Seek” were featured on the O.C., after which “Hide and Seek” made its way to #1 on the itunes download chart. In 2006, Heap was nominated for two Grammy Awards and made a legendary appearance at Coachella.
The genius of Imogen Heap was ever-present on Sunday. Catch her on remaining U.S. dates if you can. Otherwise, start listening and don’t miss the next time she works her way through the U.S.
Nov 17 – Granda Theatre, Dallas, Texas (SOLD OUT)
Nov 18 – La Zona Rosa, Austin, Texas
Nov 20 – Exit In, Nashville, Tennessee (SOLD OUT)
Nov 21 – Square Room, Knoxville, Tennessee
Nov 22 – Variety Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia (SOLD OUT)
Nov 24 – Vic Theatre, Chicago, Illinois
Nov 26 – Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Toronto, Ontario
Nov 28 – Higher Ground, Burlington, Vermont
Nov 30 – Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, Washington, Washington DC (SOLD OUT)
Dec 1 – Theatre Of Living Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Dec 2 – Webster Hall, New York, New York
Dec 3 – Music Hall of Williamsburg, New York, New York
Made it out to both days of the Monolith Festival. Crushing acts were Phoenix, Passion Pit, and Chromeo. Sets were packed and dance heavy. Phoenix’s electrifying Sunday performance on the main stage set them up to be huge in Colorado and beyond. Chance had it that MSTRKRFT cancelled, leaving the 2nd to last main stage slot open. Certainly feels fated that Phoenix played for the most sizeable audience of the weekend. Their lightning speed rise has been incredible to follow. Passion Pit’s surging set confirmed that the eletro pop craze is on. And Chromeo’s sex-saturated synth funk throw down triggered a dance freak-out from the crowd and had everyone smiling hard.
New favorites included OK Go (finally saw them live after all that YouTube hype), Health, The Walkmen, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Woodhands, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, and The Royal Bangs. Great to see Stars of Track and Field again after they took most of 2008 off. Other sweet catches included Thao with The Get Down Stay Down, Gregory Alan Isakov, The Grates, Tigercity, and Danielle Ate The Sandwich. The eletronica was also pumping with choice acts The Glitch Mob, Savoy, and Beats Antique.
The setting of Red Rocks couldn’t have been more beautiful and the bands knew and recognized it.
Ever since SXSW, I can’t stop thinking about Passion Pit. One of the best acts I saw that week by far. The band’s live performance is nothing less than electrifying. Their sound is a fine example of where indie rock has been going. Combining digital effects (2 keyboards, synth, and samples) with 80′s pop and falsetto vocals into decidedly current electro pop. I’m susceptible for falling for these types of bands as they get me on all sides of what I’m into. Love this comparison from Audio Muffin – “… (Imagine) if MGMT got together with Postal Service for a few drinks and decided to create music that balanced out batshit crazy with bespectacled yearning, the result might sound something like Passion Pit.” The band is also becoming known for remixing groups like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Ra Ra Riot, but I think their memorable originals is where it’s at.
Currently based in Cambridge, MA, Passion Pit formed in late 2007. The blogosphere lit up over their infectious single ‘Sleepyhead’ off their-debt, dorm room-recorded EP, “Chunk of Change” (2008). Michael Angelakos (lead vocalist) created Passion Pit in order to write a few songs as a Valentine’s Day gift for his girlfriend. Four of those songs plus ‘Sleepyhead’ and ‘Better Things’ make up the disc, which quickly made it around the Emerson campus where Angelakos was studying. The band released their first full-length album “Manners” this past May. Appearances include almost all the major fests including Sasquatch, Bonnaroo, and Lollapalooza this summer and Austin City Limits, Monolith, and Treasure Island this fall. Catch them.
Sleepyhead
And everything is going to the beat
And everything is going to the beat
And everything is going
And you say it was like fire around the brim
Burning solid burning thin the burning rim
Like stars burning holes right through the dark
Flicking fire like saltwater into my eyes
You were one inch from the edge of this bed
I dragged you back a sleepyhead
They couldn’t think of something to say the day you burst
With all their lions and all their might and all their thirst
They crowd your bedroom like some thoughts wearing thin
Against the walls against your rules against your skin
My beard grew down to the floor and out through the doors
Of your eyes, begonia skies like a sleepyhead
Your head
The Reeling
We dug these holes we crawled into now they’re my home
Now here I cannot feel the wind, cant feel the rain oh no
And I believe in gentle harmony
Well how I loathe all this obscenity
Is this the way my life has got to be?
Have I a single opportunity?
Look at me oh look at me is this the way i’ll always be
Oh no, oh no
Now I pray that somebody will quickly come and kidnap me
Oh no, oh no
Everyday I lie awake and pray to god today’s the day
Oh no, oh no
Here I am oh here I am oh when will someone understand?
Oh no, oh no
And all at once I feel this, oh how it clings to me
It reels and calls me towards it, confounding destiny
And I can feel the madness inch by inch
The more I run the more I am convinced
A color all these like the branches glimpse
Just like the saddle in the foggy mist
Look at me oh look at me is this the way i’ll always be
Oh no, oh no
Now I pray that somebody will quickly come and kidnap me
Oh no, oh no
And everyday I lie awake and pray to god today’s the day
Oh no, oh no
Here I am oh here I am oh when will someone understand?
Oh no, oh no
Look at me oh look at me is this the way i’ll always be
Oh no, oh no
Now I pray that somebody will quickly come and kidnap me
Oh no, oh no
And everyday I lie awake and pray to god today’s the day
Oh no, oh no
Here I am oh here I am oh when will someone understand?
Oh no, oh no
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