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Taking to the stage with little fanfair, a heavily pregnant Imogen Heap is dressed in flowing black with her trademark two-tone hair piled high, a spiky neon necklace giving her the appearance of a futuristic sorceress.
She flits hyperactively up and down, shadowed by the electric tendrils of an enormous light-up tree, as she whirrs and speeds us through the process of each song, speaking on her extravagant plans to record her unborn child’s heartbeat (“We’re calling him Buster at the moment…but we don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl!”) and layering her niece’s newborn heartbeat instead on ‘Lifeline’.
She goes on to explain ‘You Know Where To Find Me’, inspired by the mysteries of the Thames and the immersive ‘The Listening Chair’ which draws upon her fans' experiences of the different stages of life. With old favourites ‘Speeding Cars’ and ‘Goodnight and Go’ intermingled with her latest Sparks material, Heap manages to transform an often cold genre into something deeply affecting and personal, with lyrics about love, loss and mortality resonating over intricate loops and beats.
Her rich and delicate tone mesmerises the audience as she races through a variety of electronic equipment; a grand piano, a bass, a harp all in the space of a few minutes of song. Her revolutionary Mi.Mu gloves are the star of the evening though, allowing her to alter her voice with gliding, silky movements that are in stark contrast to her often ditsy stage presence. As she sings ‘Me The Machine’ she transforms into a magical high priestess, inviting you to see beyond the present into the future of sound.
‘Hide and Seek’ will be the last song she sings on stage for quite a long time, and she wants it to be perfect. Despite many teething problems throughout the ambitious set, with just her voice and a keyboard synth transformed by a vocoder, this true innovator and composer is absolutely captivating as her gut-searing vocal soars above and around the Roundhouse, wrapping the quietly singing crowd in a beautifully warm glow.
