Brightest Young Things

Imogen and I could barely hear one another when we spoke. It was quite staticky. I blame the mountains.

BYT: Congratulations on the success of Ellipse.

IH: Thank you! It’s great. Really nice to see it’s on its way. I’m on my way to Salt Lake [City] on a bus at the moment. I’m in the back of the bus watching the mountains go by. What are these mountains that I’m seeing? Do you know?

(We talk landscape scenery for a bit. Back to the record...)

BYT: So, you bought and moved into the house you grew up in. You built a studio inside?

IH: That’s right- I’m just going to cough quickly- (coughs). Sorry, I’ve had a bit of a sore throat recently.  So, yes….I loved the idea of being in my old playroom. (She converted her childhood playroom in Essex, England into a studio, where she recorded Ellipse.)

BYT: How long did it take for the studio to come together?

IH: I thought it would take a month…Eight months later, and we were still tearing our hair out…

BYT: How was the recording process for the record different from your other experiences?

IH: Well, the main difference was that I went away, and I actually decided to write the album not in my studio.  When I got back from touring last- three years ago, four years ago, whenever it was- I was really, really tired. Didn’t want to be around people, because I had been around people all the time…So, I went to Hawaii…I decided to write the album there before I went into the studio….

(We get disconnected, reconnected, and she continues….)

IH: I decided to write as much as I could before I went into the studio…I thought it would be better to start out with a song- the old style way of doing it. Go into the studio with a strong song and build the track around it.

BYT: I’ve read that many of your songs are autobiographical. Could the same be said for the ones in Ellipse?

IH: Yeah, everything is from experience in some way or another. Well, it starts with an experience, and you get taken off on a tangent. Like the song “Aha!” I had this friend who was coming over for lunch- I was cooking him lunch. I asked him what he could eat, and he said, “I don’t really eat meat or dairy,” or something like that. So I said, “What can I cook you? What do you eat?” And he said, “Well, I’m a vegan.” And I was like, “OK!” I went out and bought vegan food and cooked up this very nice meal for him. And then after we’d eaten, we were having some peppermint tea, so I pulled out some biscuits. And he had some. I went, “What are you doing eating a biscuit? It’s got dairy.” And he goes, “No, it’s just a biscuit.” That really irritated me. People who say one thing, do another….

BYT: You’re a songwriter, but also a producer, and you play many instruments. Do you enjoy taking on all these roles in your work?

IH: I love it….I want to be able to hear it and say, “Ah, that’s me.” I mean, I also love collaborating.

BYT: Do certain collaborations stand out?

IH: Um, I like working a lot. I would have never paired myself with some of the people, but I love the challenge of surrounding myself with something I don’t really know that much about. I mean, I never sung a blues song before, but I loved doing that thing with Jeff Beck all those years ago…With Mika, we just met at some awards thing in London…We had a good time, and he sort of came to me, and he asked me to do some work on the album. I’d heard “Grace Kelly” on the radio, and I just thought that how fantastic it was that something completely different and fresh got on the radio. And he’s a real character.  So, I loved the idea of working with him too.

I’ve enjoyed every single one. I don’t find my collaborations. They sort of always come to me very randomly.  I have not personally gone out and asked somebody for a collaboration.  Apart from this kind of mutual- there’s this guy called Beardy Man, who, when I get back to England in December, we’re going to write something together. You can look up Beardy Men and Kitchen Diaries, I think, on Youtube, and you’ll see why.  He’s really amazing…And the guy I’m on tour with now is a guy named Tim Exile, and he’s astounding. What he does live is totally inspiring…He’s really inspiring me at the moment…

BYT: You seem to really embrace technologies that allow you to communicate with those who admire your work. Your fans were kept quite aware during the recording process of Ellipse, for example.

IH: I realized, now that I’m out of the studio, I’m not quite as needy as I was then…Sometimes it was hard to do the work…any words of encouragement are welcome. It was really, really helpful in having me carry on. Not only that, but I’d play little bits of songs.

Also, I didn’t have a boyfriend this album.  And I didn’t realize how much, you know, they helped me in the past.  Just the support of somebody being there for you….and just to play them your songs at the end of the day, and go, “Oh, look at what I’ve done.” I didn’t have anyone like that…It was great to put a little clip online and tell them what I’d done…

BYT: Growing up, whom would you have wanted to have this same experience with, as a fan?

IH: That’s interesting.  You know what? I don’t know, because I don’t experience music, most of the time, in a kind of…I’m trying to think of an example…When a director, a film director, goes to the movies, to him he would see how it was crafted…With music, I don’t have that feeling very often of transcending to another dimension…I don’t know….It annoys me about myself that I don’t have that...

(I'm told I only have time for one more question.)

BYT: I'm curious about what you think of all the “Hide and Seek” remixes and samplings out there? Jason Derulo’s “Whatcha Say” is constantly on the radio here.  You like it?

IH: I wouldn’t say I like it, but you know, after you heard about what I just said about me and music, you probably understand that.  I really enjoy hearing the interpretations. I love hearing the song in a completely different light, because I really feel, after I write a song, once I finish a song and it’s out, I don’t believe that it belongs to me at all. I don’t feel that I have any claim on it….Every time something good happens, especially with that song- the song came out of something quite awful- it’s great. Makes me really happy...

Want more?

Imogen Heap is playing a sold out show at Sixth & I at 8 p.m. tonight with Tim Exile and Back Ted N-Ted. Don't have a ticket? Craigslist is your friend. In the meantime, you can keep yourself semi-occupied with: myspace/twitter/youtube.