Ellipse (album)
| Ellipse | ||||
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| Studio album by Imogen Heap | ||||
| Released | 24 August 2009 (see Release history)[1] |
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| Recorded | March 2007–June 2009 | |||
| Genre | Electronica, ambient | |||
| Length | 48:43 | |||
| Label | Megaphonic RCA Victor |
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| Producer | Imogen Heap | |||
| Professional reviews | ||||
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| Imogen Heap chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Ellipse | ||||
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Ellipse is the third studio album from Grammy Award-winning British singer–songwriter Imogen Heap. After returning from a round the world writing trip, Heap completed the album at her childhood home in Essex, converting her old playroom in the basement into a studio. The album got its name from the distinctive elliptical shape of the house.[5] The album's title was confirmed by Heap via her Twitter page on 25 April 2009, after being leaked onto the internet on 23 April. On 15 June, Heap confirmed that the album would be released on 24 August 2009 in the United Kingdom on Megaphonic Records and 25 August in the United States/Canada on RCA Victor Records. International release date was also 24 August.
Subject matter in the songs includes post break-up malaise ("Wait It Out"), domestic boredom ("Little Bird"), body image issues ("Bad Body Double") and a common Heap theme, unrequited love ("Swoon" and "Half Life").
Contents |
[edit] Background
In July 2009, a promotional copy of the album (designed by Andy Hau [6]) appeared on eBay; Heap in return placed a bid of £10,000,000 to try to reclaim the album, which eBay rejected.[7] As of 8 July, eBay had ended the auction.[8] On 14 July, the first single "First Train Home" was released, and a digital pre-order for the album became available on iTunes in two versions.
The Deluxe version includes instrumental tracks of the entire album. Both Standard and Deluxe editions feature a "Behind the scenes" video when pre-ordered. As the song "The Fire" is already an instrumental, the "instrumental" version on the Deluxe edition's second disc consists of just the crackling fire in the background of the song proper. The solo piano track, without the fire sounds, was included only on the Deluxe CD copy of the album, as a hidden track at the end of "Half Life"; digital copies omit this hidden track.
[edit] Reception
Critical response to Ellipse was generally positive. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 68, based on 12 reviews.[9] It also earned her a further 2 Grammy Nominations on 2 December for Best Pop Instrumental Performance for 'The Fire' and Best Engineered Non-Classical Album. On 31 January 2010, it was announced that Heap had won the latter award.
[edit] Live performances
In October 2008, Heap travelled to America to perform at Pop!Tech in Camden, Maine. She performed the song 'Wait It Out' live, for the first time ever on 24 October.[10] The performance was recorded and released on Youtube.com the following day.[11][12]
On 24 August 2009, Heap appeared on Letterman (although the episode didn't air until the 28th) and performed "First Train Home". On her Twitter page, Imogen admitted that she messed up on the second line of the second verse during the performance.
The following day, on 25 August, Imogen headed to the WNYC Radio Station in New York to play "First Train Home" and "Half Life" on air and give a short interview.[13]
[edit] Track listing
On 8 June, Heap confirmed the following as the album's official and final tracklisting:
| Standard edition / Deluxe edition (disc 1) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "First Train Home" | 4:13 | |||||||
| 2. | "Wait It Out" | 3:57 | |||||||
| 3. | "Earth" | 3:34 | |||||||
| 4. | "Little Bird" | 4:07 | |||||||
| 5. | "Swoon" | 3:54 | |||||||
| 6. | "Tidal" | 3:50 | |||||||
| 7. | "Between Sheets" | 2:54 | |||||||
| 8. | "2-1" (formerly "Polyfilla") | 4:42 | |||||||
| 9. | "Bad Body Double" | 4:07 | |||||||
| 10. | "Aha!" | 2:27 | |||||||
| 11. | "The Fire" | 1:59 | |||||||
| 12. | "Canvas" | 4:55 | |||||||
| 13. | "Half Life" | 4:02 | |||||||
| Japan bonus track | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 14. | "Not Now But Soon" | 3:46 | |||||||
| Disc 2 (Deluxe edition only) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "First Train Home" (instrumental) | 4:15 | |||||||
| 2. | "Wait It Out" (instrumental) | 3:47 | |||||||
| 3. | "Earth" (instrumental) | 3:35 | |||||||
| 4. | "Little Bird" (instrumental) | 4:08 | |||||||
| 5. | "Swoon" (instrumental) | 3:52 | |||||||
| 6. | "Tidal" (instrumental) | 3:51 | |||||||
| 7. | "Between Sheets" (instrumental) | 2:55 | |||||||
| 8. | "2-1" (instrumental) | 4:43 | |||||||
| 9. | "Bad Body Double" (instrumental) | 4:07 | |||||||
| 10. | "Aha!" (instrumental) | 2:27 | |||||||
| 11. | "The Fire" ("instrumental") | 1:57 | |||||||
| 12. | "Canvas" (instrumental) | 4:55 | |||||||
| 13. | "Half Life" (instrumental) / "The Fire" (piano instrumental; only on CD pressing) | 6:13 | |||||||
| iTunes pre-order only bonus | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 14. | "Behind the Scenes with Imogen" (iTunes pre-order only video) | ||||||||
[edit] Official streaming album
On 17 August 2009 Heap made the entire album Ellipse available for live streaming via her webpage.[14]
[edit] Credits
- Imogen Heap – programming, vocals, producer, engineer, design, sounds, lyrics.
- Leo Abrahams – electric guitar
- Ian Burdge – cello
- Arve Henriksen – trumpet
- Oliver Langford – violin
- Richie Mills - drums
- Nitin Sawhney – acoustic guitar
- Ashwin Srinivasan – background vocals, bansuri
[edit] Production
- Projection Concept & Production – Jennie Hancock & Ewan Robertson
- Ellipse Swirl Logo - Andy Hau
- Management – Mark Wood
- Design – Richard Bull
- Projections – Annelieke Bosdijk, Albert Q Bui, Jessica Butler, Alex Carmichal, Randall Dameron, J. Daniel Geddis, Vladislav Gusarov, Adriane Lake, Nick Moulakis, Nathan Nye, Michelle Thomas
- Photography – Jeremy Cowart
- Mastering Engineer – Simon Heyworth
- Mastering Assistant – Joe Gilder
[edit] Release history
| Country | Date |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 24 August 2009 |
| France | |
| Asia | |
| USA | 25 August 2009 |
| Canada | |
| Mexico | |
| Japan | 2 September 2009 |
| Germany | |
| Switzerland | |
| Austria | |
| Ireland | |
| New Zealand | |
| South Africa | |
| Denmark | |
| Finland | |
| Norway | |
| Sweden | |
| Czech Republic | |
| Italy | |
| Benelux | |
| Greece | 14 September 2009 |
| Poland | 28 September 2009 |
| Hungary | |
| Australia | 19 February 2010[15] |
[edit] Chart performance
| Chart (2009) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Albums Chart[16] | 4 |
| UK Albums Chart[17] | 39 |
| U.S. Billboard 200[18] | 5 |
| U.S. Billboard Top Electronic Albums[19] | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Top Digital Albums[20] | 2 |
| U.S. Billboard Top Rock Albums[21] | 4 |
| U.S. Billboard Top Alternative Albums[22] | 3 |
[edit] References
- ^ "Ellipse | News". Imogen Heap. http://imogenheap.com/news/articles/336.html. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
- ^ Mason, Kerri. "Review: Imogen Heap, "Ellipse"". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/album/imogen-heap/ellipse/1266151/review. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
- ^ Sullivan, Caroline (14 August 2009). "Review: Imogen Heap, Ellipse (Megaphonic)". Film & Music (London: Guardian Media Group) (14 August 2009): 9. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/aug/14/imogen-heap-cd-review. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
- ^ duBrowa, Corey. "Review: Imogen Heap, "Ellipse"". http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/08/imogen-heap-ellipse.html. Retrieved 27 August 2009.
- ^ Songfacts
- ^ "Imogen Heap". Andyhau.com. http://andyhau.com/Imogen_Heap.html. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
- ^ Kernohan, Marcus. "Imogen Heap in £10m bid… for her own CD". stereokill.net. http://stereokill.net/2009/07/05/imogen-heap-in-10m-bid-for-her-own-record/. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
- ^ Fusilli, Jim (8 July 2009). "With Help From Fans, British Music Star Imogen Heap Solves an eBay Crisis". The Wall Street Journal. http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2009/07/08/british-singer-songwriter-imogen-heap-solves-an-ebay-crisis/.
- ^ "Ellipse Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic.com. http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/imogenheap/ellipse. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
- ^ "Twitter / Imogen Heap: wow.. what an amazing day!". Twitter.com. 2008-10-23. http://twitter.com/imogenheap/status/972848289. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
- ^ "imogen heap - wait it out (live at pop!tech) (with lyrics)". YouTube. 2009-02-21. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuBMLRK-fWs. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
- ^ "Imogen Heap PopTech performance". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5CNoFfCW0g. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
- ^ "Imogen performs 'First Train Home' and 'Half Life' live on WNYC's Soundcheck.". New York City, NY, USA. 25 August 2009. http://www.wnyc.org/flashplayer/player.html#/play/%2Fstream%2Fxspf%2F139281.
- ^ "Ellipse | News". Imogen Heap. http://www.imogenheap.com/news/articles/335.html. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
- ^ "Ellipse | Music , Music Genres, Pop/Rock : JB HI-FI". Jbhifionline.com.au. 2010-02-19. http://www.jbhifionline.com.au/music/pop-rock/ellipse/465561. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
- ^ "CANOE - JAM! Music SoundScan Charts". Jam.canoe.ca. http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Charts/ALBUMS.html. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
- ^ UK Albums Chart
- ^ pse/1266151 US Billboard 200
- ^ US Billboard Top Electronic Albums
- ^ US Billboard Top Digital
- ^ US Billboard Top Rock
- ^ US Billboard Top Alternative Albums
[edit] External links
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