Imogen Heap talks to the Echo ahead of her show at the 02 Academy Bournemouth (From Bournemouth Echo)

Imogen Heap talks to the Echo ahead of her show at the 02 Academy Bournemouth

10:04am Monday 8th February 2010 in

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WITH her audacious attire and outlandish style, aesthetically, Imogen Heap has a whiff of the extrovert about her. On the other hand, however, the singer-songwriter’s heavily produced, dark pop tunes point towards a quieter, introverted and sensitive soul.

It’s the latter on the phone to me today. Polite and softly spoken, Imogen doesn’t sound like your archetypal Essex girl, although happily she does demonstrate a typical female trait, multitasking.

“I’m trying to juggle lots of things at the moment,” explains Imogen, who started her UK tour last night and arrives in Bournemouth on Wednesday, February 17.

“I’ve been writing with Brendon from Panic At The Disco, designing a Perspex piano for my live show and now I’ve got somebody at my house getting the set-up right for my tour.”

Compounding her busy schedule is me, whose phone call has forced her to stop driving and pull over to chat to me – but she doesn’t seem to mind.

When I speak to Imogen, whose third record, Ellipse, has just won Best Engineered Album at LA’s Grammy Awards, she is preparing to embark on her first UK tour for three years.

“I know, don’t remind me,” she says, with mock panic.

“I’m so far behind.”

Despite her success Stateside, Imogen still hasn’t quite cracked it in her own country, where, even after three albums, she remains very much a niche act. “Over here if you don’t get on the radio it’s very difficult,” she concedes.

“In the States there are a lot more angles to get in, radio wise. College radio is really good and there are independent radio stations who play what they want to play, not what they are told to.”

Frequent airplay has steered Imogen into the limelight in the US, where her music has been used as soundtrack to a plethora of popular shows such as The OC and Heroes.

Although her fans might be fewer and farther between in the UK (for now), they show canine-like loyalty to Imogen, who has a unique, interactive relationship with them – talking to them on blog sites and the likes of Twitter.

“It didn’t occur to me until I started blogging that I could have this connection with fans,” says Imogen.

“I can get feedback the same day from people who are actually interested in my music rather than from record companies who aren’t interested in listening to it but in making money out of it.”

Imogen’s adoring fans have even helped shape the sound of her music. “[Their validation] is what gave me the courage to go the extra mile and do something a little stranger – I felt like I had them there with me all along,” she says candidly.