It was with abundant ebullience that Imogen Heap took the stage at Blue Frog on 24th November.
She’s a very British and more electronically inclined Bjork who still manages to create an identity very much her own. Armed with a gossamer voice, three microphones including two on her wrists, a percussionist, a cellist and a battalion of instruments, she’s clearly the conductor and musician of her own orchestra, a one woman band of sorts. Certain elements in certain parts of her songs seem to recall the ethereal feel of Sigur Ros. Her usual delightful and quirky self, she infuses her set with loads of humor and charm. Known for her use of technology and innovative stagecraft, Heap's performance is a good example of live looping, a practice thats becoming increasingly frequent in music these days.
The stage definitely had a one-of-a-kind set up with Immi, the transparent piano, sitting bang in the centre of things.
Ashwin Srinivasan, the flutist, performed the opening set. It was definitely interesting but I quickly got impatient with his six song set. It would have been a lot more exciting if he was backed by a full fledged band. Rather, his flute proved a potent and subtle counterpoint on many of Heap’s songs.
The landscape of Heap's music is furnished with mellifluent and slightly odd ornamentations. For instance, her opening number ‘Walk’ sees her waving a washing machine tube in the air, creating a thunderous sound.
As she struck up the opening riff from the second song, the tweeful and upbeat ‘Goodnight and Go’, which happens to be one of my favorites, the crowd went hysterical. On starting the song, she began singing the second verse, laughed it off and started the song again, something that added to the song’s charm.
Ensuing songs included ‘Speeding Cars’, ‘Between Sheets’, ‘Canvas’ and ‘The Moment I Said It’ which were all good, emotionally charged sonic endeavors, especially ‘Between Sheets’ , a love song.
What’s special about her set is that instead of ploughing through song after song, a practice that can get increasingly noisy and claustrophobic, she outlined incidents that inspired songs, kept up a continuous dialogue with the audience including dividing the audience three ways for a three part harmony spot on ‘Just For Now’.
She proceeded to us about the origins of her song ‘First Train Home’. About three wine glasses were brought out after that, from which the emanating sounds were briskly recorded and looped along with the drums and the array mbira, and served as the plinth for her song, ‘First Train Home’.
A rare performance of ‘Breathe In’, her song with Frou Frou was lovely.
Her studio output may sound great but watching her mix, layer, loop, and oscillate her way through different instruments and vocal punctuations, sets her apart from other musicians.
She then debuted her Magical Music Gloves, a pair of black gloves with lights, which when moved a certain way, immediately recorded, looped and added effects, without her flitting from one end of the stage to another, an incredibly ‘hands-on’ approach to music leaving us ordinary mortals in awe. ‘Let Go’, another Frou Frou hit, was next on the list.
This was followed by a lovely rendition of ‘Tidal’, a song that starts out nonchalantly and progressively builds up and ends with her playing guitar on her keytar.
The penultimate piece was the goosebump-evoking, minimilistic ‘Hide and Seek’ consisted of her voice being vocoded to create harmonies.
The set’s denouement featured ‘Minds Without Fear’ a collaboration with Vishal-Shekhar on vocals and Karsh Kale on tabla, inspired by Rabindranath Tagore’s poem, a song whose composition was documented on the show ‘The Dewarists’.
Indian musical talent is still evolving, especially with the birth of shows like Coke Studio and The Dewarists doing their bit to inspire. However, after watching Imogen Heap’s theatrical performance, Indian urban musicians have still got a long way to go.
