Imogen Heap gets intimate with her fans at last nights London Heaptweetup
After having a most unruly day at work, a small ray of sunshine made it's way through the dark clouds hanging over me in the way of a "heaptweetup". What is this you ask?! Well basically Imogen Heap invited all her Twitter friends to come to a swanky London cocktail bar where she personally played tracks from her new album "Ellipse" via her laptop for the audience with an arousing Q&A in-between each song.
To be honest, it really was WAY more than I expected. I pretty much had visions of someone coming out on stage to welcome the crowd, introduce Imogen, play the songs and then have a short Q&A afterwards.
WRONG.
What transpired was a very intimate evening with Imogen Heap as you were escorted to a private swanky bar (which only held about 50 people), given free drinks and were greeted by none other than Imogen Heap herself – who gave a very chatty and witty commentary throughout the entire night. What was surprising was that Imogen encouraged us all to make ourselves comfortable on the floor as she did, sitting with the crowd as she played us the new tracks and getting to experience the songs through our ears. If there ever was an uber fan event for Imogen Heap – this was it my EQs.
The songs can only be described as magical. Somewhat different to the dramatic overtones of "Speak For Yourself" with my favorite track of the night being "Half Life" - in which Imogen described as her token closer piano piece for the album. We also learned about many of the behind-the-scenes making-of-the-album tidbits that make up the intricacies of the album. For example, the ass-slap snare drum in "Between Sheets", the self-perception body issues explored in "Bad Body Double" where Imogen found her body image inadequate after observing Japanese girls on a trip abroad, and why she decided to change the name of "2 -1" instead of using it's original name "Polyfilla". She didn't want the song to be associated with a common household good you see…
Afterwards, Imogen signed photos for all of us and posed for pictures making the 2.5 hour queue wait for this event well worth it (I was in the second half group). I came home with a smile on my face knowing that I just spent an intimate evening with Imogen Heap and experienced "Ellipse" in an environment that complimented it's beauty and grace.
You know, I talk to musicians almost every day, but being in the presence of Imogen Heap invoked a school girl demeanor from me when chatting to her. Definitely had an "eek!" moment. Very few musicians get me all choked up – but Imogen Heap is one of them. I can die a happy electronic music blogger now…