Album: Ellipse
Artist:Imogen Heap
Rating: 4.5/5
For fans of: Ingrid Michaelson, Bloc Party, The Postal Service
Tracks to download: ‘Half Life,’ ‘2-1,’ ‘Between Sheets’

I will freely admit that when I started listening to “Ellipse,” all I knew about Imogen Heap was that she recorded that epic song from “The O.C.” On the basis of this limited knowledge, I was fully prepared to dislike her. It’s not that “Hide and Seek” is a bad song, aside from the source of its celebrity, but it is a tad repetitive, and all anyone remembers is the bridge of “Ooh, what you say?”

“Ellipse,” though, was a surprise. Heap has successfully melded what is best about electronic music with a more traditional vocal style to make herself into a band of one. Each song contains layers upon layers of rich harmonies and counterpoints. Throw in lyrics that are innovative and poetic, even if they do veer into the strange now and then, and you have what amounts to an electronic version of The Beatles’ “White Album”: intriguing, complex and hauntingly beautiful music that boldly leads the genre in a new direction.

I would not be at all surprised if “Ellipse,” like “White Album,” contained subliminal messages. You can’t help but wonder when a song has lyrics like “Slow hard dog wait/ Down love black canvas/ Revolve within, you understand.” Even the slightly more lucid lyrics have an air of spoken word poetry, as if it all makes sense inside Heap’s head, but she’s choosing her words based on their private significance rather than their potential to communicate clear images to the listener.

Then again, there are songs that perfectly convey identifiable scenarios and emotions. “Between Sheets” may be the most beautifully post-coitus song I’ve ever heard, and probably everyone has experienced the kind of bordering-on-stalkerish “friend” described by “Bad Body Double.” She’s not even above being laughingly self-referential, as in “Swoon”: “This is where I was going to sing your name/ Over and over again/ But I chickened out and I thought a minute/ Cause I thought you probably wouldn’t like it.” No matter what Heap is going for in a given song, the music itself perfectly complements and develops it. Heap keeps you guessing, both within each song, through new embellishments and variations on the tune and within the CD itself, never creating quite the same sound twice.