i & r

Imogen Heap
MM Magazine
11.98

by John Laverock

Imogen Heap makes one hell of a first impression; six feet tall, long, funky hair, broad smiles and character for days, this 20 year old performer is indeed the term 'star quality' come to life. Ask her to pose for a picture, she'll become more animated than Mickey Mouse; bid her adieu and she'll hug you sincerely and powerfully. In talking to Heap, it's easy to get a sense that she has always known exactly what she wants out of life; the only question is how long until she gets it. The lyrics that make up her debut disc, iMEGAPHONE, are equally determined, running the gamut from lust to fury in sixty minutes flat. Indeed, Heap has her head on straighter than folks twice her age and she used that bravado to speak her mind to MM just prior to her arresting Vancouver solo performance last month.

Tonight you are going to be doing a solo show. How is that different from your shows with your band?

It's very different. It's not visual, it's not me leaping around. I love to dance, and I love to scream, and occasionally walk out into the audience. There's a song called "Rake It In" which right in the middle of it I have to scream, 'cause it's about being worked so hard--to the end of your tether--and then feeling like somebody else is taking all the money. So, I'm at home writing this song and feeling, well, how do I express that? And the only way you can express that is by screaming. In the song, sometimes, when I'm live, I scream and jump out into the audience. It just seems to be a good way to get people really involved. I think that that will be hard to do with a piano. But I'll just have to get around it differently. It's very hard with songs like "Angry Angel" which is mainly a guitar piece, it's not particularly built over a different chord structure, it's built over the dynamics of the instruments coming in, and more really layers, more than harmonic changes. So, that's difficult on the piano 'cause you've only got one instrument to work with. Obviously, you can use loud and soft, but that's about it. So, I've had to change "Angry Angel" and change the chords around; basically write a new song, apart from the words and the melody. But create that kind of tension through changing the chord structure. It seems to be working really well. I haven't had a complaint from somebody going "I felt cheated because I wanted to see the band, and I wanted to see the album." It's an experience. It's very intimate, and people feel like they get drawn into it, and they don't go home feeling short-changed.

Do you find it intimidating to have to hold the audience's attention by yourself when playing solo?

I wonder sometimes, because I hardly look at the audience at all. I totally forget that I'm there most of the time. Unless I'm worrying about certain people, then I'll really notice that I'm there. But most of the time, I know the songs so well that I'm just chilling out and it's just as if I was at home with my own piano, playing away. I don't know if I'm particularly amazing to look at, but to see anyone just on their own with their instrument and seeing them totally vibing off of what they love to do, that is in itself something really cool to watch. So I think that balances out the fact that I'm not leaping around. It's a completely different thing. I interest myself all the way through 'cause I'm singing the songs, blah, blah, blah, and I notice that sometimes people do start chatting, and I have to figure out why at that point people lose interest. But a lot of times, there are certain points when everyone will be quiet and I wonder why. I get very funny about people talking in the audience because it's a very impolite thing to do. I hate talking when bands are playing, even if it's really loud, I just think it's disrespectful. Occasionally, I go "Can everyone just be quiet?" And everyone goes "Yay!" Or they go "What's she talking about? Why can't we talk?" It depends where you are.

Certain lyrics in your songs suggest that becoming famous has been the best revenge. Is it?

No, I don't really think about it like that. But it has turned out to be very good, yes. I was quite...not shy, but if I had a problem with anything, or if anyone said "Oh, you're fat" or "You're this" or "You're that," I'd never speak back. I never learned how to do it. Only till now did I realize how annoying it was and how to handle it. I have grown up so much, meeting all these people kind of demanded me to know myself. So I really had to kind of get my shit together.

Did you find as a child that playing the piano was an emotional release, or was it something that you did to find structure?

I like being good at things. But I think it was a bit more to it than that with piano. It was something which gave me an immediate response. That's what I think I liked. I started so early because we had a piano in the corner of the room, and my family all played it. Not very well, but it was something we did together. It was something I knew I could be really good at. It got to mean different things when I needed it to. And when I need something else to rely upon, it always came up.

The public perceives you as a very strong person. How do you feel about that?

Being strong? The more I get to know myself, the more I find that I'm not really that strong. There's a lot of weaknesses. I find that perception motivating, if I'm in certain situations. But it can be bad as well.

How do you see technology in the future affecting yourself as an artist?

Technology is advancing at a huge rate, and it's scary. They have things that they don't really know how they work, and maybe some things we're not quite ready for yet. Maybe we don't realize the worth of our planet before we get into another structure, which is living in a techno-world. Maybe we have to realize what's really cool about us before we start turning to that. It is nice to have this global communication, but it is scary the more a person becomes a number. It's scary when the computer becomes the world in your hand. It just becomes empty a little bit. You can see how there will be less human contact, and it's scary.

Where do you see your music going in the future?

I'm going to get into Spanish rhythms, I'm going to get into horns. To me, songs are personalities. I can't really explain what I want my sound to be, but I know it when I hear it.