Sunday, November 22, 2009
A+E, Music, Reviews

Imogen Heap

“ELLIPSE”  (RCA)

Jeremy Cowart

IMOGEN HEAP
w/Tim Exile and Back Ted N-Ted
Sunday, Nov. 22
8 p.m.
Variety Playhouse
404-524-7354
www.variety-playhouse.com

Few musicians use the Internet as effectively as Imogen Heap. The electronically tinged singer-songwriter posted videos of the making of this album months before it was available, whetting the appetites of listeners and creating a buzz about the release before most had heard it.

    Now that we have the finished project, it’s hard not to be disappointed. While “Ellipse” has its moments, all the processed vocals, techno blips, beeps and whooshes and oblique lyrics don’t add up to much. The songs are pleasant enough, and Heap certainly knows her way around a studio. The audio glistens and shimmers, and the heavily overdubbed tracks have enough nooks and crannies to invite even diehard fans back to discover something—a cello, trumpet or Bansuri flute, among other subtle touches—they didn’t hear before. Everything sounds inviting in an experimental way, combining easy-on-the-ears, chilled-out electronics with Heap’s honeyed Kate Bush/Sarah McLachlan vocals.

     But something is missing. The songs don’t resonate like those of the above artists, and there’s a distinct lack of soul generated by this music. Between Gary Numan, OMD, Depeche Mode and even Kraftwerk, there are plenty of electronic acts that infuse their music with passion, injecting the dry-ice ambiance with a fervor and intensity that are generally absent here.

   Heap never sounds emotionally connected to this material, which leaves the listener similarly unmoved by music that makes pleasant background listening but doesn’t inspire the kind of artsy obsession Heap seems to be trying to create. 2.5 STARS—Hal Horowitz