Heap grew up playing music from an early age, and by her eleventh birthday she was writing her own songs. From the age of 15, she studied at the BRIT School Of Performing Arts & Technology in Croydon, South London, recording three tracks for the school's annual CD between 1994 and 1995, "Aliens" being the title track of the latter.
After being introduced to Nik Kershaw by his manager Mickey Modern, Heap and Kershaw recorded four demos that Mickey Modern took to Rondor Music. Consequently, a few months later Heap signed her first record contract at 18 to independent record label Almo Sounds. During 1996, Heap began working with an experimental pop band called Acacia, which featured her future collaborator Guy Sigsworth and was fronted by the singer Alexander Nilere. While never a full member of the band, Heap was a guest vocalist (as a counterpart to Nilere) and contributed to various Acacia single and album tracks in 1997. One Acacia song, "Maddening Shroud", would later be covered by Frou Frou.
Heap enjoyed a prestigious live début, performing four songs (backed by friends Acacia) between sets by The Who and Eric Clapton at the 1996 Prince's Trust Concert in Hyde Park, London. Her début album, I Megaphone (an anagram of "Imogen Heap") was internationally released in 1998 on independent record label Almo Sounds and garnered critical acclaim. However, as production of the album neared completion, it was announced that the record label had been sold and would be shut down. I-Megaphone featured collaborations with Guy Sigsworth and Dave Stewart. In Japan, the regional distributor, Zora, re-released the album in 2002, featuring "Blanket," her collaboration with Urban Species which was released as a single in the United Kingdom, and a Frou Frou remix of one of her B-sides, a video to which was released exclusively to Japanese media. Following the disbanding of her UK and USA record label, I Megaphone was scarce in circulation, having not been re-printed until November 2006. An independent Brazillian record label has rights to the record, and has issued limited copies, some of which are available on eBay. It has also been released through the iTunes Music Store under the Almo label.
At the same time as the Japanese re-release, Heap was working on new tracks with producer Guy Sigsworth, who had collaborated on "Getting Scared" from I-Megaphone. Together, they formed an electro-pop group Frou Frou, releasing an album called "Details" and singles, "Breathe In", "It's Good To Be In Love" and "Must Be Dreaming." The album was a full collaboration between the two artists. Frou Frou were approached to cover "Holding Out for a Hero", originally performed by Bonnie Tyler, for the soundtrack to the highly successful movie Shrek 2. An album track, "Let Go", was featured in the movie Garden State in 2004.
In December 2003, Heap announced on her web site that she was going to write and produce her second solo album, using her site as an online blog to update fans on progress, even seeking them to be her A&R team for the lyrics to "Daylight Robbery". Heap set herself a deadline of one year to make the album (she booked the album mastering for December 2004), and re-mortgaged her flat to fund production costs, including the use of studio time and instruments (which she purchased as a birthday present to herself). Having been burned by previous challenges with record labels (Heap had been spurned twice by record companies, when Almo Sounds was sold and when Frou Frou's label staff focused on promoting other acts), Heap decided to form her own record label on which to release the new record. At the end of 2004, Heap premiered two album tracks online, enabling fans to pay for a digital download, entitled "Just For Now" (which was up for a limited time as a Christmas gift), and "Goodnight And Go", which had been featured on the second season of hit US TV drama The O.C.
In April 2005, The O.C. season two finale featured another track, the sparse vocodered-vocal track, "Hide And Seek". The track was released immediately to digital download services such as iTunes where it became an instant fixture in the chart. The track was released as a digital download on the 5th July 2005 in the UK and peaked at #8 on the iTunes download chart.
The album, entitled "Speak For Yourself" was then released in the UK on July 18th 2005 on her own record label, Megaphonic Records. The album was also released on iTunes UK, where it entered the top 10, selling strongly. "Hide And Seek" also received radio attention from the popular UK radio station BBC Radio One, with DJ Scott Mills featuring it as his "Record of the Week", and provoking strong reactions ("love it or hate it") from other DJs at the station. Due to popular demand, the track was commercially released on a special limited edition (1500 copies were printed) 7" vinyl in the UK in September. Speak For Yourself was licensed to Sony BMG imprint RCA Victor in August 2005, enabling the record to be released in the United States, Canada and Mexico. It was released in those territories in November, and Heap appeared on the Hotel Cafe Tour promoting the record. Imogen also performed "Goodnight And Go" on The Late Show with David Letterman on January 11, 2006. Heap is slated to continue touring in 2006 in the US and UK to support the record.
As well as TV soundtracks (Frou Frou and Heap's solo records have been featured in shows as varied as The O.C. to CSI, among others), Heap has also contributed solo tracks to movie soundtracks. Her cover of the song "Spooky" (made famous by the band Classics IV, and previously covered by Dusty Springfield) for the soundtrack to the Reese Witherspoon movie Just Like Heaven. Heap also wrote a special track entitled "Can't Take It In" for the soundtrack to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. She has also appeared on the second soundtrack for the HBO television series "Six Feet Under", entitled "Six Feet Under Vol. 2: Everything Ends" with a 50-second track that closed the Season 4 episode "I'm A Lonely Little Petunia (In An Onion Patch)". Three versions were recorded and are available from Heap's official web site.
In addition to producing her own records, she has also produced a track for Nik Kershaw and has collaborated with artists as diverse as Joshua Radin, Jeff Beck, Temposhark, LHB, Way Out West, Jon Bon Jovi, Mich Gerber, Sean Lennon, Urban Species, Blue October, Jon Hopkins and Acacia.
Heap's 2009 album 'Ellipse' features Canvas, Aha! and Half Life.
Sites: Twitter
www.imogenheap.com
Wait It Out
Imogen Heap Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
How do we carry on?
I can't get beyond the questions.
Clambering for the scraps
In the shatter of us collapsed.
It cuts me with every could-have-been.
Pain on pain on play, repeating
With the backup makeshift life in waiting.
Everybody says that time heals everything.
But what of the wretched hollow?
The endless in-between?
Are we just going to wait it out?
There's nothing to see here now,
Turning the sign around;
We're closed to the Earth 'til further notice.
A stumbling cliched case
Crumpled and puffy faced
Dead in the stare of a thousand miles
An all-out one, only one street-level miracle.
I'll be a an out-and-out, born again from none more cynical.
Everybody says that time heals everything
Oh in the end.
But what of the wretched hollow?
The endless in-between?
Are we just going to wait it out?
And sit here cold?
We'll be long gone by then.
And lackluster in dust we lay
Around old magazines.
Fluorescent lighting sets the scene
For all we could and should be being
In the one life that we've got.
In the one life that we've got.
Everybody says that time heals everything.
But what of the wretched hollow?
The endless in-between?
Are we just going to wait it out?
We sit here
Just going to wait it out
Sit here cold
Just going to threat it out
Wait it out.
The song Wait It Out by Imogen Heap takes the listener through the struggle of dealing with the aftermath of a relationship that has ended. The opening lines pose the question of what happens next and how to move forward when everything seems uncertain. The singer then reveals the difficulty of letting go of what could have been while feeling trapped in time, looping through the same questions and emotions. The lyrics "pain on pain on play, repeating" and "backup makeshift life in waiting" convey a sense of helplessness and numbness as the singer tries to cope with the loss.
Despite the common advice that "time heals everything," the singer questions whether this will apply to their "wretched hollow" and "endless in-between" state. The repetition of the line "Are we just going to wait it out?" suggests a feeling of being stuck and unsure of how to proceed. The verses paint vivid images of a closed-off world, with lines like "turning the sign around; we're closed to the Earth 'til further notice" and "flourescent lighting sets the scene for all we could and should be being".
At its core, Wait It Out is a powerful lamentation of what once was and what still could be. The singer is caught between longing for the past and being unable to see the future. The final lines of the song leave questions unanswered, leaving the listener to ponder what happens when we're left with nothing but unanswered questions.
Line by Line Meaning
Where do we go from here?
We are confused about our future and the way to proceed in life.
How do we carry on?
We do not know how to keep moving forward in life.
I can't get beyond the questions.
We are troubled by many questions and we cannot get past them.
Clambering for the scraps
We are trying hard to find any small pieces of hope or positivity in our situation.
In the shatter of us collapsed.
Our situation has completely fallen apart and we are trying to pick up the pieces.
It cuts me with every could-have-been.
We are haunted by all the missed opportunities and things that could have been different.
Pain on pain on play, repeating
We are experiencing pain after pain in a never-ending cycle.
With the backup makeshift life in waiting.
We are waiting for a better life to come, and trying to set up a temporary backup plan.
Everybody says that time heals everything.
Others tell us that time will fix everything that is wrong.
But what of the wretched hollow?
But what about the emptiness and sadness that remains?
The endless in-between?
The long period of time between now and when things may eventually get better.
Are we just going to wait it out?
Are we just going to sit and wait for something to happen?
There's nothing to see here now,
Our current situation is bleak and unchanging.
Turning the sign around;
We are closing the door on the possibilities that once existed.
We're closed to the Earth 'til further notice.
We are disconnected from everything and have given up hope for the time being.
A stumbling cliched case
We are a typical example of someone who is struggling.
Crumpled and puffy faced
We are sad and disheveled.
Dead in the stare of a thousand miles
We feel hopeless and lost, with no direction to turn towards.
An all-out one, only one street-level miracle.
We are hoping for a miracle to happen, even if it is small and unlikely.
I'll be a an out-and-out, born again from none more cynical.
We are willing to start over and become optimistic, even though we have been through tough times.
And sit here cold?
Are we just going to wait for a change in our lives while we suffer in the meantime?
We'll be long gone by then.
By the time our situation improves, we will have already lost time and missed opportunities.
And lackluster in dust we lay
We will be old and unfulfilled when our fortunes do finally change.
Around old magazines.
We will have no legacy, no impact on the world, and the only remainders of our lives will be in physical relics.
Fluorescent lighting sets the scene
We are stuck in sterile, artificial environments with no vibrant or natural elements to connect with.
For all we could and should be being
We feel like we are not living up to our full potential, and are missing out on the life we should be living.
In the one life that we've got.
All the challenges we face are happening in our one finite life that we have to experience.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: IMOGEN JENNIFER JANE HEAP
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind