Imogen Heap is best known as the frontwoman in the English electro-pop duo Frou Frou, but the Londoner and native of Essex, England, released her first solo LP I Megaphone in 1998, four years before Frou Frou’s debut record appeared. Her new album, Speak For Yourself, is propelled by the swinging and driving rhythms of city life, and explores the quirkiness and uncertainty of male-female partnerships with their attendant ironic or ambiguous messages. In “Goodnight and Go,” a song expressing apprehension about a new lover, the upbeat major key belies the song’s message, seeming more coy than doubtful. The album opener, “Headlock,” has a tone that borders on bitchiness, while Heap intones, “I don’t believe any of it,” over a calming harp. The Scene spoke with Heap by phone to discuss her image, producing and The O.C.
Imogen Heap is best known as the frontwoman in the English electro-pop duo Frou Frou, but the Londoner and native of Essex, England, released her first solo LP I Megaphone in 1998, four years before Frou Frou’s debut record appeared. Her new album, Speak For Yourself, is propelled by the swinging and driving rhythms of city life, and explores the quirkiness and uncertainty of male-female partnerships with their attendant ironic or ambiguous messages. In “Goodnight and Go,” a song expressing apprehension about a new lover, the upbeat major key belies the song’s message, seeming more coy than doubtful. The album opener, “Headlock,” has a tone that borders on bitchiness, while Heap intones, “I don’t believe any of it,” over a calming harp. The Scene spoke with Heap by phone to discuss her image, producing and The O.C.
Scene: You’re not showing any skin to sell your records. How did you manage that?
Heap: I don’t actually have the world’s greatest body. I guess I’m quite pretty, and I do like to look good in my photos. I like to bring a little of my personality into my photos. But, no, it’s not about whether or not I look good. It’s all about the music at the end of the day.
Scene: Why has it been important for you to present yourself as a producer who sings, rather than just a singer?
Heap: I started at classical piano from a really, really young age, and have been creating music with computers since the age of 12. But for eight years, up until making [Speak for Yourself], I’ve had to explain, ‘Hey, I’m not just a singer. I do write the music. I do play the instruments.’ And I really wanted to make that absolutely clear this time around. It’s really frustrating. It’s like people only know about 5 percent of what I do. The singing is very important, but it’s really only 5 percent of me. I want people to know that all the musical stuff that I’m doing around the singing is actually more me than the singing is.
Scene: You’ve been labeled as an alternative artist but you’re also associated with mainstream pop culture. You’re a cappella song “Hide and Seek” was used for the The O.C.’s season finale. How do you feel about that?
Heap: The song definitely has a feeling about it. I actually wrote the music for “Hide and Seek” in one take or two takes. But it took me about a week to analyze it and figure out what the hell I played. I’ve had like 50 remixes of the song, from reggae to drum and bass to—you name it. Part of the success of “Hide and Seek” is there’s so much space left in there for people to kind of put their own interpretation onto it, and it doesn’t belong to any particular genre of music. In a way, it’s kind of like a hymn. The chords are very hymn-like and a lot of choirs have actually covered it.
Scene: Other songs you produced are being optioned for film. Do you think that’s indicative of anything?
Heap: I think I’ve just come at a really good time. I’m not totally weird. The arrangement and construction of the songs are quite straight forward, but the sounds may be a bit unusual. Films and television shows are more likely to accept songs with unusual sounds than radio is.
Scene: Do you use synthesizers?
Heap: I don’t really use many synthesizers. Most of my sounds are created from real instruments, but then I kind of mess with them in the computer. They all start off being an organic thing. I’m not too massively keen on synth, which is why my music is kind of electronic, but it’s not empty. It’s not like ’80s electronic, kind of Goldfrapp-y kind of stuff. It’s gone through the mill. I’ve chopped it up in the computer, but it’s essentially organic. I’ve always been interested in mending sound. Taking real audio and turning it into something completely different. I love playing with sound like Play-doh.
Scene: How did you come up with the title Speak for Yourself?
Heap: It was the name of a folder on my computer. After I was through working with Guy (Sigsworth, from Frou Frou), I was doing remixes for people and compilations, but I wanted to keep my music separate from that, so I just called the folder Speak for Yourself. And it was just a temporary title that stuck.
Scene: Do you use MySpace.com?
Heap: Definitely. A big part of the reason I’m popular is due to MySpace. If my album hadn’t come out this year with iTunes and MySpace, I wouldn’t be in this position, because I wouldn’t have access to this community that has grown on MySpace and on my website, imogenheap.com. You can’t buy that. I’m really grateful for living in this time. I’m really lucky that I had the resources to make my record in the digital age.
