After spending two nights at New York’s Town Hall, the consensus is three would not have been sufficient to take in the genius that is Imogen Heap. Her shows are musical, educational and a complete sensory overload. As innovative as she is musically talented, Imogen Heap has straddled the line between artist and entrepreneur, all while acting as a strong voice for the creative community.
Imogen Heap
Imogen Heap
Imogen Heap
Imogen Heap
Nine years following her last North American tour, Heap returned to New York and played two shows with her Frou Frou collaborator, Guy Sigsworth. The two performances are part of a 40-city tour comprised of talks, shows and works that celebrate the launch of the “Creative Passport” a tool for music makers that is built on blockchain technology by Heap’s research and development hub, Mycelia. The Creative Passport enables musicians to collaborate on, distribute and collect royalties from their music through the execution of smart contracts.
Imogen Heap
Imogen Heap
Imogen Heap
Imogen Heap
During the shows Imogen Heap explained the benefits of creating a more sustainable music system, introduced the crowd to her MI.MU gloves (which took seven years to develop), fielded questions from the audience and of course performed a variety of music written by her and Guy Sigsworth. She opened with “Guitar Song,” the first song that Frou Frou has released in seventeen years and later played “Flicks.” She then demonstrated her ability to manipulate, transfer and create sounds with her MI.MU gloves. When a member from the crowd shouted, “you’re a genius,” she humbly responded, “I have a good team.”
Imogen Heap
Imogen Heap
Imogen Heap
Imogen Heap
Following a brief intermission, Heap made a grand entrance by walking down the center aisle wearing a 21st century light-up ruff and rejoined her band on stage. She proceeded to play music from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and classic hits like “The Walk” and “Let Go.” After answering a few additional questions from fans, Heap performed “Tiny Human,” the first song distributed via the Ethereum blockchain that used smart contracts to seamlessly disburse royalties. Before wrapping up, Imogen Heap previewed a new track, “Quiet,” which will be released in about a month.
Imogen Heap
Imogen Heap
Imogen Heap
Imogen Heap
The Mycelia World Tour continues in North America through June 13th with its last stop in Los Angeles at the Greek Theatre. For more updates and information about Imogen Heap, Mycelia and the Creative Passport you can visit http://myceliaformusic.org/.
Article: Alx Bear
