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BUY + LISTEN |
IMOGEN HEAP - SPEAK FOR YOURSELF (RCA) |
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If Madonna had a love child with Sarah Sarah McLachlan, who then hung out with Fiona Apple and maybe had a wild run in with Bjork, it might be Imogen Heap. Addictively sweet, she melts styles together with the sultry heat of her voice, and the album as a whole impresses on first listen, if overwhelms a bit upon repetition, save one. But lets start at the beginning, shall we? "Headlock" percolates with electronic bleeps, deep cello notes, and the soft breathy vocals consumed in the chorus by synths and men's deep "bom"s in the background, a study in contrast that sound like a backdrop for an interesting modern interpretive dance theater piece. "Goodnight and Go" steps more into the pop realm, with the refrain "why'd you have to be so cute" an apt description of one of the less interesting tracks on this album. Next up is "Have You Got It In You" which brings the mood down with some ghostly shrieking that can be skipped, to get you to the fun "Loose Ends" much like "Clear The Area" which is a perfectly sweet bubbly da da dum song, to get you in the mood for the stellar stand out of this album up next. "Hide and Seek" is worth the price of the entire album. It gives me shivers every time I listen to it (over and over and over) the harmonizing vocoder voices unique and some of the most incredibly beautiful sounds I've ever heard saying the most bizarre words such as "crop circles in the carpet sinking feeling" that I've found myself singing unintentionally at random moments. I don't think a full album of this would work either, but somehow I wish this sweeping simple brilliance that Imogen Heap touches on here were more audible elsewhere in the rest of this slightly overproduced album. The only other track that veers off in its own direction is "Daylight Robbery" with its hard electric guitars fighting with Imogen's voice, and the rest is more of the same, some good ("Just For Now") and some not quite as good ("I Am In Love With You" and "Closing In"). This is not the kind of album I usually get in the mail, since I don't think it's being marketed as electronic per se. However its sugary often saccharine sweetness has given me a much needed fix of synthetic female vocal pop folk oddness, and one incredible unforgettable track I'll remember forever. -- review by Jennifer Warner
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