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WE ARE BLESSiNG YOU WiTH
Imogen Heap - Speak For Yourself
[RELEASE iNFO]
ARTiST......: Imogen Heap
TiTLE.......: Speak For Yourself
GENRE.......: Pop
LABEL.......: Megaphonic Records
CATALOG.....:
DATE........: 2005-07-29
STREET DATE.: 2005-07-18
QUALiTY.....: 190 KBps / 44.1 KHZ / Joint Stereo
ENCODER.....: LAME 3.90
SiZE........: 70 MB
[TRACKLiST]
[NUM] [TRACK NAME] [TiME]
1. Headlock 3:36
2. Goodnight and Go 3:52
3. Have You Got It In You? 4:11
4. Loose Ends 3:40
5. Hide and Seek 4:28
6. Clear The Area 4:14
7. Daylight Robbery 3:21
8. The Walk 5:14
9. Just For Now 3:00
10. I Am In Love With You 3:08
11. Closing In 4:48
12. The Moment I Said It 5:56
TOTAL TiME: 49:28
[NOTES]
Imogen Heap_s debut album, I, Megaphone, was recorded in 1998, and apart from
a thoroughly decent collaboration with Guy Sigsworth in 2002 under the name
Frou Frou (Details), this follow up has been a long time coming. Thankfully,
having lived with this disc for a while, it's obvious that mogen Heap remains
just as starry-eyed and gifted as she did 7 years ago.
Speak For Yourself opens with the upbeat electro-pop of Headlock, which wisely
pushes away all notions of electro-clash. Heap provides her usual distintive,
quirky vocal, amidst an equally idiosyncratic barrage of melodic pulses and
tones. The following Goodnight And Go is equally sprightly and punchy. Although
slightly over-produced, nothing is likely to stop it from appearing on a myriad
of movie soundtrack compilations, its feel-good appeal is almost tailor-made
for that market.
Have You Got It In You then lowers the tempo, and again Heap revels in
producing achingly addictive melodies, this time laying down soft, amazonian
beats while her vocals spray through the
octaves with consumate ease. Meanwhile, Clear The Area revisits Heaps Frou Frou
days, with a glamorous downtempo vibe, and there is also the emotive acappella
track Hide And Seek, where Heaps vocal is doubled and semi-vocoded, it breaks
up the album well.
Whist the first half of Speak For Yourself sparkles and fizzes with energy and
verve, the second half ctually features the best songs, starting with the
excellent Daylight Robbery, a bruising rock track with lashings of sparkling
programming. Hypnotisingly addictive, this won't leave your stereo for weeks
and is one of Heap's best tracks to date. Skipping over another enjoyable slice
of soundtrack-beckoning pop on The Walk, we reach Just For Now. This is where
we find the vocals pushed further to the fore. Again, the track is dreamily
melodic, with Heap's vocal multi-layered and backed by heaving strings
beautiful stuff.
The Moment I Said It closes the album, bewitching with its deeply harmonious
vibe and pungent melodic content. The inclusion of piano, which so dominated
Heap's debut album, makes a welcome return ║ in fact I would have liked to have
heard more of it on Speak For Yourself, because with so much of the album being
sequence and sample-based it does sometimes carry a slightly sanitary, digital
feel. Nevertheless, this excellent closing track will leave you in little doubt
that frequent revisits are required. This is also one of the few tracks where
the vocal is pushed quite vigorously at times; and that really makes the hairs
stand up on the back of your neck. In fact, I would like to have heard more
angry vocals throughout the album, just to cover every inch of the spectrum.
Whilst Imogen Heap sits in the subconcious of many, Speak For Yourself is the
perfect vehicle to xploit the undercurrent of admiration that surrounds her
career and could easily catapult her into the mainstream. Heap is a true
talent, and a musican in the traditional sense; she seems to have created a
secure niche for herself by blending pure pop sensibilities and chilled
vibeswith some of the more angular elements of electronica - safe in the
knowledge that her vocal ability will always be able to pull out the trump
card.
Barcode Review
http://www.imogenheap.co.uk/
[GROUP iNFO]
NEW GROUP, OLD FRiENDS, EXPERiENCED RiPPERS - SAME FANTASTIC QUALiTY.
SCANS/PHOTOS iNCLUDED iN ALL RELEASES.
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