A to Z 2017: IMOGEN HEAP

I've only recently followed along with Imogen Heap's music over the past few years. I find a lot of her music to be unique, experimental, and inspiring. The first song I ever heard was "Hide and Seek", which was originally featured in an episode of The O.C., if you remember that show. I didn't watch the series, but there was a parody made of the season finale in which it appeared. I was curious to listen to the song in its entirety:

Yeah, I was digging it, so I decided to seek out more of her work. She has appeared in many movies and television series throughout her career. You'll likely recognize some of her songs from them, if not already knowing her work. "Hide and Seek" was from her second album, Speak for Yourself, but her debut release, iMegaphone, had naturally launched her into the spotlight:

I believe most of the songs I'm familiar with come from her middle two CDs, Speak for Yourself and Ellipse. I think soon after I discovered Imogen Heap, the first single from Ellipse, "First Train Home", was hitting the airwaves. This allowed me to tap into some of her newer music (at the time) and previous releases:

Reading up on her career, it appears that Imogen Heap has been deeply involved with music for most of her life. As I mentioned her work being featured in other mediums, she has often collaborated and worked on expansive projects outside studio albums, the most recent being writing the score for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a West End play released in 2016.

It sounds like her latest release, Sparks, was a complete experimentation. I'm not even sure I can explain what all went into making the concept album, but I'll share this from Wikipedia:

Each song that is related to a certain project has been released every three months. On 14 March 2011, Heap started work on a new record as fans sent in nearly 900 'sound seeds' (short mundane field recordings, e.g. a dishwasher door, a bicycle, a burning match). Heap stated that the procedure for the forthcoming album would be to produce tracks three-monthly, with each recorded over a fortnight and released with a video, successively, upon completion.

Hmm... seems interesting. I'm absolutely clueless about this project, so let's take a look at a random song from the track list:

Well, that was pretty sweet! I'm reminded of a video I saw where I believe Imogen Heap was showcasing some gloves that were somehow integrated with her music. Allowing her to control and manipulate her music through them. In fact, I'm going to see if I can find that video quick. I know that goes over my four video limit, but I found this too fascinating not to share!

Also, I'll definitely have to listen to more of Sparks!

Did you enjoy the songs/videos? Are you familiar with Imogen Heap? Do you have a favorite song and/or album? Have you ever seen her live? If so, how was the performance? What do you think of those magical Mi.Mu gloves?