Imogen Heap : ‘Ellipse’
Released : 24th August 2009
Label : Epic Records
One word: excited. After two years and three months in the making, along with three pushed back release dates, Imogen Heap’s ‘Ellipse’ is finally here, in my hands and it does not disappoint in any melody, key or vocal. And that isn’t being biased. It’s the absolute truth; I swear to God Himself.
‘Ellipse’ is perfection and aims to redress the artist/audience relationship. Everything around this record involved the fans: the artwork, the biography and some fans even feature as atmospheric background noise on closing track ‘Half Life’. But this isn’t a track done by halves; it’s sentimental and melts into your mind stream. I don’t know if it’s the tantalising trumpet of Arve Henrikson or the squeaky sound of the pedals on Heap’s player piano.
Heap’s do-it-yourself ethos has made ‘Ellipse’ multi-layered – ‘Wait It Out’, for example, coils a piano calm around an energetic electric guitar in the middle section and holts with harmonics as a hats-off to ‘Hide and Seek’, while Heap philosophises that “time heals everything” (well, sometimes).
And this is the case: nothing is straight forward here: it flits and falls, rises and rides along. ‘Little Bird’ incorporates jay-hawks and the play on chords is calming. Team this with the poetic, almost new-age Romantic lyrics: “the garden’s wearing an Haute couture” and you’re halfway to understanding Heap’s hectic head.
‘Swoon’s’ circuit-bent Speak and Spell swirls complement the cries of “this is when I was going to say your name over and over again.” It makes your heart skip a beat, or three, and ‘Tidal’ has this stolen heart via the flying flutes and volatile vocals of Ashwin Srinivasan, which layer over crashes of electric and acoustic guitars as Heap “paddle(s) through the soup of darkness as a crocodile”.
Whether Heap’s nail violin is gnarling it’s way ‘Between Sheets’ or her Buddha machine is simply making a mess of them, there is such an awe-inspiring amount of production and effort in ‘Ellipse’. Nothing is wasted. ‘2-1’, originally titled Polyfilla, was written for Narnia: Prince Caspian but was deemed too dark so, overhauled with organs and playing on light panels, Heap re-mastered it with magic to become one of the standout songs on the album.
There is honesty and sincerity on ‘Ellipse’ too. Real emotions are addressed here and ‘Bad Body Double’ transports you in front of your bathroom mirror and asks you to “hold it in if it makes you feel better”. Heaps cure for dimply thighs? “I hear that stuffs a bitch to get rid of”. ‘Aha!’ on the other hand jokes about the idea of being “caught red handed in the biscuit tin,” with its toy piano tangibles and barmy bribery lyrics, it’s a digital-clicking, computer malfunctioning force not to be messed with, unless “you too could keep me quiet?”
Having documented the making of the album via her vBlogs on YouTube, Heap definitely lives up to the hype that surrounds her. The Guardian already pinned her as the first “download diva” ahead of every celebrity and key political figure (doesn’t take much really though) and her 850,000+ followers on Twitter is further evidence that she really is the quirky, quintessential Queen of the web. As she puts it herself, it’s all just a matter of “that and this.”
Words: Adam Mallaby
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