QTheMusic.com

"I just got a phone call from this guy i fancy! And then I suddenly realised I don't have anything to wear".

Imogen Heap looks excited. The surprisingly tall, slightly eccentric and thoroughly compelling singer is standing in front of a mirror in a central London fashion pr company. Surveying a dress handed to her for the all-important date later today, she gesticulates her way through an explanation why this dress works perfectly, sporadically stopping with mouth open and a punchline hanging in the air, before launching into another anecdote. She is, of course, very much herself.

And herself is something her fans have seen a lot of in the months leading up to the release of her third album Ellipse, with Heap, in return, seeing a lot of fan participation. She has close to 900,000 followers on Twitter and 600 people have made their version of one of her songs, of which Heap is going to select 4 to go on an EP.

Having been convinced that making a behind-the-scenes video diary (a vblog if you'd like) depicting her process in the studio was an excellent idea, Miss Heap is seen fiddling through a variety of instruments as well as anectotes and stories, constantly digressing and backtracking. A notoriously fleeting personality, her latest album as such, is a genre-hopping, electronica-tinged product made incomparably hers by the presence of the signature fragile vocals.

Sex and safari
Her latest album, obviously, being why we are here today.

"I found that the only time I was able to distance myself from the record was when I was in bed with a man. Or the moments after... and one of the most important parts of making a record is to manage to switch off from it".

And inevetably, inspiration from the minutes after sex resulted in a song: The aptly named Between Sheets, perhaps not the most outstanding track on Heap's latest effort, but certainly one of the most personal. Loving lyrics of ''being transfixed in this absolute bliss'' suggests feelings stronger than merely a one-night stand, but as Q's question arise, Heap typically dives into an anectode about going on safari in Tasmania.

"..and I just felt I was there, with zebras and bewilderbeasts running beside the car. I was just really present in this car in Tasmania... and I got quite upset with myself for not having been living in the moment before then. And that is the new me. I'm gonna be more present."

11 years since her debut album i Megaphone brought her onto a scene where predictable comparisons to PJ Harvey were ferociously abundant, Heap moved on and matured through her collaboration with Guy Sigsworth - the wonderfully atmospherical Frou Frou, before re-emerging four years ago with a self-released album followed by a mountain of soundtrack appearances.

Ellipse then, is only her third solo album and revels in a slowly sneaking popland of artistic eccentricity. Her vocals and harmonies are still omnipresent, but with melodic structure taking the listener to increasingly stranger places, she has moved far beyond the poprock flirting of say, Angry Angel.

"I find it weird when people don't realise that I'm not the same person I was when i Megaphone came out. Some people know me but hey don't know me at all. People in the distance who have read one little interview I did on a bad day or saw one photograph and they judge me because of that, which, of course is wrong. It's just one particle of who I am."

The Note
Who Imogen Heap really is, can obviously not be determined by anyone but herself, especially when she says thing like:

"Up until I was 17 Imogen Heap was who you are when I met her."

Heap now is 31, and although frequently venturing out on the path of nonsential phrasing (sorry..), her determination in continuing her artistic evolution is seemingly only broken by her kookiness.

"On this record I was trying not to be as introspective, not just focus on my bubble of friends and myself. But I'm looking forward to when I'm older and can look back on the progress I have made, even if I ended up looking for one tone. ''Look, it's a beautiful long tone, I spent two years finding it''."
-The Note...
"Yes...The Note."

And as we are getting ready to leave the surprisingly tall, slightly eccentric and thoroughly compelling singer to herself, we wish her good luck on the date tonight only to find her turning a bit shy.

"Do you have any tips? I'm not too used to the whole dating scene.."

We consider advising her not to talk too much about Tasmania, or perhaps to give the date a demonstration of The Note, but we settle on telling her not to talk too much about his hair. Apparently men do not like that according to recent studies, we say.

"Thanks", she says rather baffled. "I will..TRY.. to remember".

Bet you she won't.

Ellipse is out August 24.
Words: Brand Barstein

1:40 PM | 18/08/2009