So my interest in an artist named Imogen Heap started with Garden State, a wonderful Zach Braff film with tons of Indie music, one of the songs in the film was “Let Go” by Frou Frou. What struck me about the song was really the vocals, Imogen’s voice has this haunting quality that gets to me in some way. I can and have listened to her music for hours, I get lost in it.
Imogen was a member of the now defunct duo named Frou Frou along with Guy Sigsworth. She is now making solo records of just as good or better quality than her work in Frou Frou. I highly recommend the Frou Frou disc, it spans everything from highly electronic tracks to just straight up vocals. One of the really best aspects of Frou Frou’s album, Details, is the crazy lyrics. It almost feels like this strange concatenation of randomness, that somehow works in the end, I don’t really know how to describe. I suggest you listen and try it for yourself.
Well, now continuing with my story… Kristi and Jon Wesley were visiting right before our wedding and Jon kept playing this very very unique song on his phone, and it sort of made me think back to something, that I couldn’t put my finger on. After a bit of research I found that it was Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap, so that got me looking into her music again. A quick trip to the iTunes music store and I found her latest album, Speak For Yourself. I started listening to the short 30 second clips they have on iTunes and I knew that I had to have this album as well.
Fast forward to this week, and I was perusing Jeremiah’s blog and I came upon a post about Imogen that was a youtube video of a live performance she gave. Then I played it… I’ll pause and let you do the same.
So is your jaw on the floor as mine was? If not, you might want to stop reading here. IF you don’t stop reading there just might be something near the bottom that might interest you.
That got me looking for more of her work on youtube. Here is a small selection.
Headlock
Hide and Seek
Goodnight & Go
And now for something completely different, but still Imogen related…
So if you have gotten anything from this I hope that I’ve made you smile and perhaps gave you some sense of why Imogen is as awesome as I think she is. If you enjoyed any of the above, I highly recommend any of her albums. They are all good.