Imogen Heap is awesome.
The first time I heard her was “Come Here Boy” on the radio in California (owowowo picking up new artists from the radio how cool am I?) I listened with all the power my ears could muster. I was mystified. She was raw and alto and gripping and great. And then, when the song was over, there was applause! I had no idea what I was listening to was live! I use many exclamation points to express my joy!
Paul Bettany and Soleil Moon Frye are mussed.
So I got her album, I Megaphone (owowowo anagram; and it was good. So good. I can’t get into how good. Let’s leave it at “quite.” She was nineteen, I think. Maybe twelve. Young. And about seven feet tall. And I think “Come Here Boy” might be the best, sexiest, most gripping song ever written, and, yes, I’ve heard of Jeff Buckley. It was 1999.
Anyway. She was on Almo records — same label as Garbage (owowowo glee) — which promptly collapsed under the quality of its artists. She was adrift. I was adrift. Periodically I Googled to see if she had a new album out. I downloaded grimy RealAudio files of B-sides and a top-secret application to convert them to MP3. I made CDs. I pined.
One day I googled, and she was back.
She paired up with this dude Guy Sigsworth (owowow the Britishest!) They formed Frou Frou (a band the likes of which has never been seen!) I got the first album, Details. It was electronica, and not rock like the other album, but whatever. It was good. I played it to death. When the time came, I put it in my Friendster profile. It was 2002.
Then, starting a few months ago, all hell broke loose.
I was channel surfing, and I heard “Let Go” played on an episode of “Miss Match.” I was excited. Then I saw the trailer for Garden State that’s pretty much a music video for “Let Go.” Excitement was building. Then I saw Shrek 2, and I knew in an instant that the band doing the cover of “I Need a Hero” for the closing credits was Frou Frou. I nearly peed. I told my heckling partner, who could not have cared less, but she was very kind. Then a friend told me he heard “Shh” on “Gilmore Girls.” Gilmore Girls! Owowowowo WTF!!!11!
I have yet to see her in action, either live or on TV. Can we hurry up and get these two on Letterman or something? Craig Stillbourne, maybe? Hell, I`d watch Leno. You British readers with your Top of the Pops and your Channel 4 and your reduced risk of coronary disease — is she a famous flame over there? Are we just behind the times? Should I move?
According to her website she is recording again. Eeeeexcellent. I haven’t been this googly for an artist since I programmed Pearl Jam lyrics into my TI-82. Yeah, I did that.
