Details
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CD Details
Edition: Music CDCD Release Date: 2002-08-13
Music Label: Mca
Soundtracks:
- Let Go
- Breathe In
- It's Good to Be in Love
- Must Be Dreaming
- Psychobabble
- Only Got One
- Shh
- Hear Me Out
- Maddening Shroud
- Flicks
- The Dumbing Down of Love
Music reviews of Details
Music Review: First Impressions
Rating: 4 Stars
The first time I heard Frou Frou, it was "Holding Out for a Hero" on the Shrek 2 soundtrack (sadly, not on this album). That was one strong first impression! I was hooked right away. I immediately looked them up, and discovered I'd missed out -- sortof. Frou Frou was no more, but the aftermath of Frou Frou led me to a wellspring of beautiful music. Details is an amazing collaboration that launched Imogen Heap and Guy Sigsworth onto my radar in a big way. I started paying attention to their other projects, and discovered a lot more great music!
Along with his collaboration on Frou Frou, Guy has done a host of great remixes, production work, collaboration, and instrumental work dating back to the early 90's. In particular, you may be interested in hearing his work on Björk's Homogenic [One Little Indian / Polydoor].
Of course, Imogen Heap's solo career was launched onto the world stage by the success of Details. If you don't own her outstanding solo album, "Speak for Yourself" stop reading right now and buy it! It's surprisingly similar in production style and mood to Details. If you like this album, you'll love that one. House music fans should track down the quintessential (and unofficial) "Hide and Seek" remix by the chart-topping remixer, Morgan Page. Outstanding!
Back to the subject at hand, Details is packed with stunning production, organic loops featuring acoustic sounds like guitars and pianos, in addition to layers upon layers of synthesizers, samplers, and all sorts of lovely electronic effects. I tend to find that a mix of acoustic and electronic music can give electronic productions a timeless quality, whereas purely electronic music sometimes sounds dated a few years down the road. This music is timeless.
The lyrics are lively and deep, packed with great lines like, "if love is surrender, then whose war is it anyway?"
The album will hook you from the first track -- one of the strongest on the album, "Let Go," which is also the first to hit us with those stunning oneliner hooks; "there's beauty in the breakdown." You'll find yourself singing along. I know I do! In fact, this song brings back some great memories, packed into a car full of friends, heading to a nightclub. We stoked ourselves up for the great electronic music show to come by cranking this album. One of my happiest memories is of a car packed with some of my best friends, all belting out, "so amazing here, cause there's beauty in the breakdown!"
The next track is just as good. "Breathe In." I love the simple, hooking instrumental melody, and the beautiful refrain, "'cause I love you no, can't help but love you no," a perfect segue into the sarcastically upbeat track, "It's Good to be in Love."
Some drum and bass rhythms come out in the brilliantly produced, "Must be Dreaming." As beautiful as the lyrics and singing are, you'll be swept away into the lush string swells, and beat drops that sound styled after dramatic dance floor build and drops. Crank it up loud, and this song will take you to some great emotional highs, topped with the haunting title line.
The next track sets us down gently back down in the real world. "Psychobabble" is the dramatic song that includes the brilliant line that kicked off this review, "if love is surrender, then whose war is it anyway?" This is relationship trouble set to music. We've all had conversations like this at one point or another, "and just for once could you let me finish a sentence," but it seems to be telling a much more dramatic story. Lines like, "make no sudden movements and no one will get hurt, you're making me nervous" invokes a sense of fear and foreboding.
In a brilliant programming choice, "Only Got One" brings up the tempo and the mood a bit, concluding with beautiful piano melodies, that launch us effortlessly into the faster paced, "Shh", which strongly features Imogen's trademark breathy vocal layering, which really does sound a bit like whispering to music.
"Hear Me Out" effortlessly mixes a funkier rhythm that swings gently below the swaying vocal pads while Imogen sings about a common theme -- unrequited love.
So listen up - this sun hasn't set
(I refuse to believe that it's only me feeling)
Just hear me out - i'm not over you yet
(It's love on the line can you handle it?)
"Maddening Shroud" is one of the few songs on this album that doesn't do it for me entirely, but I do like the layers of bells that reminds me of childhood toys. I really enjoy the percussion, but after "Hear Me Out" I'd rather hear something with a bit more substance. It's not a bad song, but I would have left this track off the album.
"Flicks" would sound better (and fresher) after "Hear Me Out." I feel it suffers in the wake of the somewhat disappointing "Maddening Shroud", but it recovers quite well, picking up the tempo and continuing the swinging theme from "Hear Me Out."
"The Dumbing Down of Love" is softer, quieter, and absolutely beautiful. Gentle piano chords, string pads, and a low-pitched panned synth effect ease the listener into a personal revelation:
Music is worthless, unless it can
Make a complete stranger
Break down and cry
A perfect end to a nearly perfect album. One song on Imogen's next album delivers on the promise here nearly every time I listen to it, but that's a different review.
Description of Details
2002 debut album for duo comprised of musician/vocalist Imogen Heap & producer/arranger/songwriter/musician Guy Sigsworth (who's worked with Bjork on 'Homogenic' & 'Vespertine' & Madonna on 'What It Feels Like for a Girl'). Asian edition features 13 tracks including 2 bonus tracks, 'Old Piano' & enhanced material. Univeersal./Island.Named after the French word for the rustle of silk, Frou Frou's debut album exudes cool, stylish elegance. Singer Imogen Heap's soft, whispery vocals intone dreamy lyrics of doomed romances and slow recoveries. The songs are penned by Heap and her partner, producer Guy Sigsworth (Björk, Madonna), who manned the board on Heap's 1998 solo album I Megaphone. Even the mighty Brian Eno gets into the act, with a cowriting credit on the soul-bearing "Hear Me Out." In fact, all 11 tracks deal with love and fractured relationships, hauntingly beautiful both in their stark emotional content and the equally sparse arrangements that showcase Heap's ethereal voice, which she uses as a subtle weapon, much like Joni Mitchell circa 1970's Ladies of the Canyon, with the same heart-stopping yet effortless octave leaps. --Jaan Uhelszki
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