Part cool ’n’ collected statuesque beauty, part thrilled eight year old, Imogen Heap is struggling to contain her excitement. “For the last year, I’ve had a mission to accomplish,” says the former Frou Frou lass, kicking her pink stiletto-ed heels with joy. From the pride glowing from the songwriter’s grin, it’s clear “Operation Imogen” has been a resounding success. After twelve months of graft in her studio, the bubbly twenty-seven year-old is finally poised to release the glorious ‘Speak For Yourself’’. Filled with grace and passion, and loaded with hooks, it’s a captivating Bjork meets pop-Squarepusher gem of a record and the thoroughly deserving source of her exhilaration.
Following on from her 1998 debut ‘I Megaphone’ and her 2002 Frou Frou collaboration with Guy Sigsworth, ‘Details’, this is Heap’s second release in her own name. But it is her first truly solo album. Out on Heap’s own label, Megaphonic, ‘Speak For Yourself’ has an almighty cast of just one, but it is a triumph of Oscar-winning proportions. Startling lead single “Hide And Seek” is already taking the States by storm. One week after it was played-out in the closing sequence to the season (2) finale of cult drama series ‘The O.C.’, in a prize slot which last season used Jeff Buckley’s heart-rending version of the Leonard Cohen-penned ‘Hallelujah’, ‘Hide And Seek’ leapt from No. 98 to No.32 in the Official Billboard Hot 100 Download Chart, making Imogen the No.1 Electronic Act on the chart. Impressively, the track – which was only available on iTunes as oppose to the many music sites which make up the Download Chart – sold 9,700 copies as a download in one week alone, and more impressively, gave Megaphonic the only independently-released track in the entire Hot 100 chart that week.
Sitting among the chiffon curtains and butterfly fairy lights of her Bermondsey studio – the very same one in which Dizzee Rascal recorded ‘Showtime’, though now significantly girlied-up – Heap is the picture of satisfaction. Armed with Pro-Tools, some geeky toys and a room full of instruments ranging from a cello to carpet tubes, she wrote, recorded and produced every glistening note of her remarkable electro-poprecord herself, fulfilling a life-long dream. “I always wanted to find out what I was capable of,” she says smiling broadly.
In 2003 Heap parted ways with Island records, who released Frou Frou’s “Details”, though they were keen to put out the next solo album she felt it was “time for a change of scenery”. Imogen recalls “’I signed my first deal when I was just 17 and I’ve been on one label or another since then. I didn’t think I’d end up releasing it on a label of my very own but once I’d finished I didn’t want to give it all away again, specially as I’d put everything I had into it”.
Working with Frou Frou partner, Madonna and Britney producer Guy Sigsworth had been “an apprenticeship in making amazing records,” says Heap. But Heap was adamant that with her next project, she should get the recognition she deserved. “It’s not Guy’s fault, but with Frou Frou, everyone assumed the man did all the production and engineering, mixing and programming and that the girl – me – just sang,” explains Heap. “And I have to say that really irritated me. We did everything together. I’d been programming on Macs since I was twelve and that was more of a love to me than singing ever was.” After her break-up with Universal/Island, Heap felt the time had come for change. “I loved working with Guy,” she says. “I’d learnt so much from him and all the other various collaborations I’d done over the years. Now I was bursting with ideas and just wanted to get my hands really dirty!"
Writing, recording and owning your own music is a noble aspiration. But as Heap discovered, record labels do have their uses and summoning together vital funds was proving a tad problematic. “I traipsed my way round every bank but I couldn’t get a loan,” she says. “I had £10,000 on my credit card and I couldn’t pay my bills” but just before despair could stick in its claws, Heap’s luck changed. Clocking a “For Sale” sign outside her block of flats was, she says, like a little light bulb going on: “I couldn’t help wondering just how much I could sell my flat to myself for.”
From that moment on, it seemed as though Fate was smiling on Heap. The artist set about re
hhmm.. love this song!:)
hide and seek..
.much love.
.retrolove.
Thanks
oldsailor741
so, what should i say, great, uniqe, i'm not a person who have an art soul, but you give me an ear catchy.
bravo!!!