Categories : Electronica, Music Reviews, Rock + Pop.
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Rating: 4 / 5 Reviewer: Andrew Mitchell |
The problem with reviewing an album like Imogen Heap’s Ellipse is that it requires optimal listening conditions for its stereophonic production to be rendered adequately. The filmic quality of her music just begs for one of those cinema-ready five speaker setups. How else can such subtle intricacies as a wipe of strings, a wave of vocal harmony or the peacefulness of a crackling fire against a tinkling piano be appreciated so fully?
Through meticulously detailed electronic pop, Heap evokes the eccentricity of Bjork, the atmospheric sound of Enya and the image conjuring ability of Kate Bush. Her soothing, thimble-sized voice weaves through dreamy aural landscapes seamlessly. She sings with lovesick frankness on the driving funk of ‘Swoon’ and just as smoothly with distraught abandon on the radio-ready pop single, ‘First Train Home.’ Her appetite for imaginative sound sampling is evident on the lighthearted ‘Aha,’ with its live nail board and synthetic harp combination. And when she uses unprocessed sound effects like a bathroom shower on the self-deprecating ode to body dysmorphia, ‘Bad Body Double,’ a heightened visual realism is achieved.
No, Ellipse doesn’t always demand rapt attention and while the latter part of the album tends to run untethered in epic film score fashion, it always retains a finely polished finesse. Heap transports the listeners and leaves them in an elevated, if foggy, frame of mind. And in that, her elliptical intent is attained.
