Looping

I went to see Imogen perform in Salt Lake last saturday. i've put off posting about it because . . . well, I'm not sure. i guess just because I wanted to get a couple of things scanned before I posted.

The show was amazing. She is an incredible musician with an incredible personality. she was so personal on the stage. things definitely haven't gotten to her head.

All concert reviews aside, there is one incredible bit of music appreciation that has impressed upon my mind first and foremost over the past week, and that is the concept of looping. It was odd, last week was full of it for me. On Thursday as I sat and chatted with coworkers about the previous night's Idol performances, someone brought up K.T. Tunstall. I had never heard of her. One of the contestants had sung her current chart topper "black horse and the cherry tree". I enjoyed the song, but had never heard it before. so, I looked her up online. I was surprised to learn that she's basically a one-woman band and uses digital looping in her performances to fill in all of the gaps. the vocals, percussion, guitar, everything. it's all her. i was blown away when i learned that. i watched a video or her performing online and was all the more impressed. she's got a voice like butter and lyrics to catch you as you pass. I quickly downloaded her album and have enjoyed it over the past week. so, that was on Thursday. on Friday night I shared her album with M and he immediately said "this is incredible! I need this!"

So, basically, you should check her out if you haven't already.


Then came Saturday night and immi. M and I traveled up to Salt Lake early. I had a wedding reception that I needed to swing by in Logan. It was beautiful. I wish that i could have stayed longer, but we were in a HURRY. traffic was bad and it had taken us much longer than we had anticipated to get up there. immi was starting at 7 (a bit early, I know) so we got to in the venue right about 7 - and the line was HUGE. Honestly, I'm surprised that they packed everyone in there. The line did a nice little serpentine twist around the building. we waited and waited and waited. close to an hour. at about 7:45 we were close to the door and I heard a wave of cheers come from inside the club. I was so worried! I was convinced that we were missing immi. We finally got in and quickly found the best standing places we could . . . not too far from the stage. There was a woman sitting up on stage with a cello. M immediately said "that's her" and I said "no, it's not". I knew that it wasn't her face, but she had her hair done up like immi. by the time she was through with the song though, we were both sure it wasn't her. HOWEVER, the woman on stage was very very very much worth seeing. her name is Zoe Keating and I can honestly say that seeing her perform was just as good as seeing immi perform. and here comes the looping again. Zoe has a series of albums called One Cello x 16. One woman, One Cello, 16 tracks - simultaneously. it was INCREDIBLE. she starts off with one note and then builds an orchestration right before your eyes. I bought her CD and have been listening to it on and off all week. She's another one that I would highly recommend checking out.

Finally, immi graced us with her presence. She was lovely. She started with "just for now". Not my favorite song, but within one minute, I was leaning into M and practically crying into his ear "she's amazing!". again, looping. it was just her on stage, but her voice was being projected in several different melodies at once. another process of one track at a time until she had a full choir of voices at her fingertips. the rest of the show was wonderful. i just stood and admired her ability to command the vast array of equipment at her fingertips. I was sure that "hide and seek" would be my favorite tune, but there was something wrong with the equipment and it just didn't sound right. my favorite song ended up being her last . . . "the moment I said it". It has been one of my favorite's on the album, and now it's right up there with "hide and seek".

M had a migraine during the show, but he said he still enjoyed it. alas, he was anxious to get out of there. I convinced him to go back to his car and I would join him shortly. I wanted to stick around and see if I could meet immi. i waited about 10 minutes and then she came out. I was the first one to see her and talk to her. I was pretty star struck, but she was very kind and signed her album for me. I got a picture with her (no flash! low batteries!) and then I left. it was a lovely night. I'm looking forward to seeing her agian someday and hopefully getting better standing spots so that I can get some better pictures.

Now it's time for bed. i guess it's just been one of those strangely productive nights for me. hope that the attitude can carry through to tomorrow.

"Lovely to meet you!" (I love the little snail that she drew)

She's really tall!