Monday, January 22, 2007

flippin' 'eck...





Last night I saw
Imogen Heap in concert in Oxford. Not only was it way better than I thought it could be considering before I went I wouldn't have said I was a fan as such but it was inspiring, entertaining and humbling. The woman is a musical genius! She didn't just sing along to a load of pre-recorded backing tracks, she created every sound in every song right in front of you. She mixed, clicked, clapped, played keys, sang, beat-boxed, twirled and drank tea right there on stage in the New Theatre Oxford.

...see this bit from an interview just to get an idea of the womans tenacity....

"Describe the production of the track Hide and Seek. It is an unusual arrangement, and really seems to have struck a chord with your fans."
"That's the one that took the least amount of time, out of the whole record. In the beginning that annoyed me, that everyone loved the one I did in one day. The one that took me weeks and weeks wasn't anyone's favorite.
I did Hide and Seek the day my computer blew up on me. I was putting in a card, and the powerboard went down. I was really irritated that I couldn't do anything that day, because I had just bought it. I had learned a lesson on my last record, never to leave the studio on a downer. Try to do something creative before you leave.
Hide and Seek was basically like that. I didn't want to leave with a bad feeling so I picked up my harmonizer and played my keyboard and recorded it on my Mini-Disc recorder.
From the moment I put fingers to keys, and voice to harmonizer, the song just appeared. 4 ½ minutes later, there was the structure, the harmony, and the melody. Not the lyrics, though, I always add those later.

As I was doing it, I got very excited. It's never ever happened like that before. The only song it was like that for was Sleep, the last song on my first record.
Then I spent about 4 days trying to figure out what the hell I played. It was all one performance, not tracked vocals.

As you say, people really seem to have an affinity for it. I think because it doesn't really have a relationship to any genre. It's not Pop, its not Rock, its not Electronic. You can't really say you don't listen to that kind of music. It's actually a bit like a hymn. "

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love Imogen Heap. I've bought her stuff for years and years! Saw her this week as well - I was at V Festival. She was awesome! :)

January 22, 2007 5:52 pm  
Blogger val said...

Hi beautiful, not responding to post but just saying hello to you and glad that I hung out with you and Rach and that it was COOOL and I am glad we are still friends becos of the following reasons: you are intreseting, super, inspirign, creative and cool and so I hope I see you in Feb. lOve val austenixx Now I will read your post....

January 25, 2007 10:21 pm  

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