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Fresh from her emphatic guest slot on LHB's
equally emphatic pop spectacle, 'Tell 'em Who We
Are' comes Imogen Heap: sultry and dexterous
of voice, smart and loquacious of mouth, and really
rather tasty to boot. And with just over six-feet of
the young woman to go round, we don't doubt that there's
plenty for everyone.
If Everything But The Girl couldn't quite pull
the wool over people's eyes long enough for them to
forget such remarkable early stumblers as 'Love Is Strange',
then MCA primed double-act, Frou Frou are armed
and equipped to prove that Massive Attack inflections
in pop don't have to be such short-lived and awkward
affairs. Fragility and tenderness have been equally
difficult beasts to tame too, for many. Dido has proved
that. Tender the soft gossamer thread too thin and it
goes limp and oddly pathetic. Matched with equally thin
material for subject matter such adult-orientated smaltz
as Dido just gets brutally torn asunder. And why not?
But this is where Frou Frou differ: they're soft, yes,
but they're very very strong - like Alanis Morrisette
with more substantial doses of valium at their disposal.
Think of a classicYazoo or Minotaur Shock
remixing a cover of Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now
as sung by Astrud Gilberto and Kate Bush. Feisty,
cool, aloof but oh so tenderly beautiful and as sweetly
addictive as a Quality-Street tin full of tequila. Not
quite as theatrical as Moloko , and not quite
as gravity defying as Air, but a pure pleasure
seeker all the same. And what a voice. Destined to grace
a thousand and one Ibiza clubmix tapes this summer,
don't doubt it. Not that Imogen thinks much of it:
 "I
never even thought my voice was all that-I didn't take
it seriously or think I'd do anything with it," admits
Imogen, who'd first set her sights on a career as a
contemporary classical composer. "I started out playing
piano, then took other instruments so I'd have a broad
range of knowledge, and studied composition and arranging.
I was really into being like Stockhausen."
It seems it was only upon Imogen leaving her sheltered
life in Essex, England, for boarding school, that she
discovered her voice as venting vehicle:
"I grew up in the country and all I did was play piano-I
knew nothing about popular culture," she says. "Suddenly
there was sex, drugs and rock-n-roll, but I was kind
of an outcast, and since for the first time in my life
I had a lot to say but no one to talk to I began singing
my own songs."
Ultimately, Imogen's newfound pop side took precedence,
and while demoing for a solo album, she happened to
catch Guy at a London club:
"He had his own band at the time, and what they were
doing was so exciting, I thought, 'Hmm, I'd like to
get a bit of that into my music.'" The track they did
together, "Getting Scared," became the first single
off Imogen's 1998 debut I Megaphone. The two continued
to be drawn to one another's work, until "One day Guy
rang me up out of the blue and said, 'Let's go into
the studio,'" says Imogen. "We weren't sure how far
to take it, but more and more it made sense," adds Guy.
"Something really special was happening."
Not that it was always so easy:
"Initially it was very difficult for me-you can get
away with a lot more fat as a solo artist," says Imogen
of the collaborative process, which extended to production.
"Guy pushed me so much, not just lyrically and vocally
but about recording, so that II was able to really get
around the studio and co-produce. We both had to agree
on everything; we tore each other's hair out at times."
Soon enough their goals became clear, the desire to
achieve them priming the team for the challenge. They
chose a timeless-meets-technology approach, recording
real instruments, then manipulating and layering them
on computer, to lend a humanity and organic warmth often
lacking in electronic music. Lyrically, they elected
to revolve around love-which Imogen calls "the best
subject in the world"-yet sought to explore its dimensions
in a way that reaches out each individual listener.
"We want our songs to feel personal, like one-on-one
communication," says Guy.
Inspiration is said to have come from a mingling of
personal experience and open-hearted approach to more
universal gravities. The spark that ignited "It's Good
to Be in Love," for instance, was saidd to be a chance
encounter between Guy and an old friend. "She looked
great," he recalls, "so I was asking: 'New diet? Exercise?'
She said, 'No, no-I'm in love!'" On the other hand "Breathe
In" tackles a difficult aspect of love indicative to
our times: communication conflicts. "With so much at
our disposal these days-fax, email, phone, mobiles-sometimes
we choose the one that's least likely to make actual
contact!" Guy points out. "In other words, you often
call someone hoping you'll get their answerphone because
it's easier that way."
In love yourself? You soon will be.My only gripe? If
either 'Breathe In' or 'It's Good To Be Love' are to
be the mainstream hits they surely deserve to be, they're
going to need some bigger lifts and a choice club remix.
Just sounds a wee bit like they're holding back.
Now what was the question?
more info:
Frou
Frou Myspace
Imogen
Heap
Alan Sargeant for Crud Magazine© 2002
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| 04/02 1 Giant Leap - My Culture
04/02 Elfpower Interview - Andrew Rieger - Creatures
04/02 Frou Frou Interview - Guy Sigsworth/Imogen Heap
04/02 Gomez Interview - Ian Ball
04/02 Idlewild - Live - London Astoria
04/02 K's Choice Interview
04/02 Leaves - Live - Camden Dingwall
04/02 Longwave Interview - Exit
04/02 Lucy Mongrel Interview
04/02 Oasis - The Hindu Times
04/02 Phantom Planet - Interview
04/02 Unwritten Law - Interview
04/02 VUE - Coordinates Interview
05/02 BRMC - LIve - Kentish Town, London
05/02 Breeders - Title K
05/02 FC Kahuna - Machine Says Yes
05/02 Moco - Live - London Monarch
05/02 Need New Body - Interview
05/02 The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Live - Soundhause, Northampton
05/02 The Bellrays - Meet The Bellrays
06/02 Fleadh Festival - Finsbury Park
06/02 Frou Frou Coordinates Interview
06/02 Incubus - Interview - Mark Einziger
06/02 North Mississippi Allstars - Interview
06/02 Papa Roach - She Loves Me Not
06/02 Proud Mary - Live - Northampton, Soundhaus
06/02 Pulp - Live - Sherwood Pines, Edwinstowe
06/02 Reindeer section - You Are My Joy
06/02 Silverchair - Diorama
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06/02
Something Corporate - Leaving Through The
Window
06/02
Soinc Youth - Interview
06/02
The Burn - The Smiling Face
06/02
The Coral - Live - Roadmender, Northampton
06/02
The LIbertines - Live - The Social, Nottingham
06/02
The Vines, Sheffield Leadmill
06/02
Trik Turner - Interview
06/02
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Live, Soundhaus, Northampton
07/02
12 Stones Interview
07/02
Arolo -Interview
07/02
Buy To Let Doncaster - Anti Social Behaviour
07/02
Cassius - Interview
07/02
Farrah - Interview
07/02
Glassjaw - Interview
07/02
Neil Michael Haggerty - Interview
07/02
Hoobastank - Running Away
07/02
Leaves - Interview
07/02
LL Cool Jay Interview
07/02
Oasis - Live - Finsbury Park, London
07/02
Polyphonic Spree - Live - Camden Monarch
07/02
Queens of the Stone Age - Songs For The
Deaf
07/02
Super Furry Animals - Interview
07/02
The Beatings - Live - Metro Club London
07/02
The Bellrays + The D4 - Virgin Megastore,
Oxford Street London
January 2001
July
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September
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November
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January
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April
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August
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