Details [Frou Frou - Debut Album]

Tracklisting
1) Let Go
2) Breathe In
3) It’s Good To Be In Love
4) Must Be Dreaming
5) Psychobabble
6) Only Got One
7) Shh
8) Hear Me Out
9) Maddening Shroud
10) Flicks
11) The Dumbing Down Of Love
12) Old Piano (International Bonus Track)
13) Holding Out For A Hero (Australian Bonus Track) (?)

Details is the debut album for the British electronic/trip-hop (so they say) duo, Frou Frou, which is composed of vocalist Imogen Heap (the main reason I’m reviewing it) and Guy Sigsworth, the guy in the back. Both of them wrote, produced and played instruments for different songs on the album, although Imogen is the only one to provide vocals. The track Let Go was used in the closing credits for the movie Garden State, which featured Zach Braff, while Holding Out For A Hero is a cover of the old Bonnie Tyler hit, and was used in the movie Shrek 2, along another cover of the same song. The album was released on the 4th of June, 2002.

Remember how I said Imogen’s solo debut was angsty and soulful? You know, an album with a bit of a punk flair to it while still keeping a bit of the mainstream in one or two songs. Well, Details is a totally different story. The soul is still there, as is the deep meaning. The punk elements are gone, though, and this album is instead made up of ambient electronica. This is when Imogen started moving towards her now staple genre, and probably the one stage where she was best recognised before Hide and Seek from her following solo album was used in just about every existing medium.

So, it’s quite a departure, indeed. The album is rather ecclectic: You have your darker, often times ambient synth pieces (Let Go, Psychobabble, Only Got One), and you have your lighter tracks that are a bit friendlier (Breathe In, It’s Good To Be In Love, Maddening Shroud) and you also have your plain strange tracks (Psychobabble again, Flicks, Old Piano). It’s got a little bit of everything, which is good to hear. The album does a great job at not repeating itself while still sounding consistent. Not every track here is perfect, but as a package, it worked out perfectly. While it is mainly an electronica album, there are a few odd songs that lack that sound (For example, Breathe In has almost none of the elements), but in the long haul, if you don’t like mellow electronica or synth-pop, this really isn’t what you’ll be gravitating towards.

As I’ve said, it does a great job of providing you with interesting, unique tracks. The biggest example I’d like to point out here is Psychobabble. It has those dark, ominous, echoing bell chimes over a mysterious and foreboding synth line with Imogen singing what I could possibly call her strangest set of lyrics yet: The general story is, Imogen talking to herself, as if on a phone, talking to someone frantic and possibly in some situation that gives off a feeling of urgency. It’s a rather mysterious and intriguing piece, if not downright chaotic.

Another of the odd, stand-out tracks is Flicks. While this isn’t exactly a stand-out for me, it has a rather odd lyrical composition to it, and the arrangement carries a sort of semi-Arabian atmosphere to it. Honestly, I can’t make any sense of the lyrics though, so I can’t even begin to wonder what it could be about, but it has a rather atmospheric, ethereal feel to it that helps set the mood. The ad libbing was a nice touch from Imogen, too.

However, just to even it out, there has to be a bad track or two. The biggest dunce, I would say, has to be Madenning Shroud. The verse structure just seems a bit too childish for my liking, and the chorus isn’t much better. It’s very repetitive, and while the atmospheric noises are nice, it’s just not very appealing. Old Piano tends to drag quite a bit, as well, and ends up falling flat halfway through due to the odd nature of the song itself.

And, on a final note, who can forget the subdued, blending in songs: Only Got One and The Dumbing Down Of Love, which happen to be two very good songs even with this quiet nature: Only Got One, a song about living your life as you want since “you’ve only got one”, works as one of the uppers of the album, while The Dumbing Down Of Love would be more akin to a dirge or ballad of kinds.

And what’s an album without its song about not doing drugs: Breathe In takes this title, and it’s also one of the brighter tracks on the album. It’s kind of odd, as it’s hard to tell whether she’s berating, approving or just indifferent.

Album Score
A-

Favorite Tracks
1) Psychobabble
2) It’s Good To Be In Love
3) Hear Me Out
4) Only Got One
5) Let Go

It was rather hard to contain this review into a less-than-1000-word limit. There’s a lot to say about it, as it’s not exactly the kind of album you’d run into every day. It takes the electronica twist and adds it to otherwise ordinary songs to give them a unique twist to make them stand out, instead of turning it into club or house music. It was a rather interesting experiment, and in my opinion, one of the best things to happen to Imogen: This style of music was a brilliant change for her, and it did nothing but help her next album. So, nice job, Imogen and Guy~