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Imogen Heap delivers sincerely at TLA

As the first decade of the 21st century winds down, it remains true: The best bits of a performance are the most human moments. It's true even in a concert as fraught with sophisticated musical gadgetry as Tuesday's show from English electro-diva Imogen H

    by David R. Stampone, For The Inquirer
    Published 

As the first decade of the 21st century winds down, it remains true: The best bits of a performance are the most human moments. It's true even in a concert as fraught with sophisticated musical gadgetry as Tuesday's show from English electro-diva Imogen Heap. The moments that matter most are when sincerity, warmth, and charisma come off stage and touch the crowd. The tall, animated Heap had many such moments throughout her sold-out TLA set, all enhanced by her eccentric unaffected charm, sometimes coming off like a kooky Brit composite of

SNL

standout Kristen Wiig's mumbling characters.

Heap greeted the crowd with a glass of wine, rubbing it and saying that the resultant bell-like tone is the first thing heard on her new album, this year's Ellipse (her third solo record and first since her 2005 breakthrough Speak for Yourself). It was the sound she'd been trying to get in the studio, a problem solved as simply as she demonstrated. "First Train Home" followed, beginning a 17-song run (well over half from the latest album).

Her chatty style connected all night. She explained that the black dots on her inner wrists were microphones. She offered the stories behind the songs. She praised her opening acts: U.K. producer/performer Tim Exile and Phoenix-bred Ryan "Back Ted N-Ted" Breen, who also joined Heap at times as her backing band. And she welcomed onstage 2007 Penn grad Kellyn Goler, winner of the auditions Heap conducts for a cellist to join her in each town to play on her tune "Aha!"

She also enthusiastically assigned the crowd three distinct simultaneous singing parts for her a cappella "Just for Now" in the encore set - an impressive success. And her hip-shake dancing while singing the new "Bad Body Double" gave the song added impact.

Even so, nothing communicated more than her expressive, breathy voice, fluttering into higher register or hitting notes dead-on, whether with electronic enhancement or not. Her stark, swooning 2005 hit "Hide and Seek" remains irresistible. The track first gained broader exposure when featured in the TV series The O.C., and again when prominently sampled in "Whatcha Say," a recent No. 1 single by R&B newcomer Jason DeRulo (who performed it here during the Thanksgiving Parade in a routine with Eagles cheerleaders).