Live: Imogen Heap - Oxford They say you should never meet your heroes and since I count Imogen Heap among my own personal pantheon of icons, I wasn't quite sure if she would live up to my expectations in the flesh. I shouldn't have worried - live, Imogen Heap is a real gem. Not only is her voice just gorgeous to listen to, but she oozes happiness and has an infectious sense of fun. Seeing her bound on stage in a whirl of feathers, you can't help but smile. And it was like that throughout. She would stop and start over if she wasn't happy with something, pausing every now and then to sip her cup of tea. She started by introducing us to her, ahem, band consisting of her mbira, electronic parrot, various samplers and of course her keyboard, all dressed in a swirl of flowers and fairy lights like a bunch of characters from Narnia. As the evening progressed, she effortlessly manipulated this haphazard ensemble, building up multiple layers of sound in such a manner as to suggest a talent that perhaps hasn't yet been fully realised in the studio - which leads me to think that we should all look forward to the moment where it is! The twinkly electronic sounds of 'Headlock' and 'Goodnight and Go', however, were unmistakable and just the right side of twee: the vocals were delivered with a spine-tingling sense of innocence. But it was her a capella version of 'Just for Now' that stole the show. Nowhere near the best song on her most recent album, Speak For Yourself, her live performance of it was simply brilliant. |