The songs on Imogen Heap's new album, "Ellipse," might sound like telegrams from a lush alien planet, but in person, their author is a chatty 31-year-old with her fair share of quotidian obsessions. At the top of that list is her computer.
In fact, one of the songs that didn't make the record was an ode to the Apple of her eye titled "Click Joy."
Released in late August, "Ellipse" is the third solo work from England's Heap, who first attracted listeners with elaborate synth-pop in Frou Frou, her collaboration with fellow Brit Guy Sigsworth, and her 1998 solo debut, "I Megaphone."
She's since built a following in this country as a go-to artist in the film and TV world. "Garden State" director Zach Braff, "The O.C." and "Gossip Girl" creator Josh Schwartz, in-demand music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas and other Hollywood trend-spotters have all but ransacked the contents of her 2005 solo album, "Speak for Yourself." She's also recorded one-off songs for movies, such as "Can't Take It In," written for "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe."
Still, Heap has never had an old-fashioned hit record; in fact, her previous solo efforts have sold a modest half-million copies combined. Instead, she is a new-media sensation, a model for success in today's fractured music industry landscape.
"Ellipse" proves that her paradigm is working: The album debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard Top 200 chart and has sold 48,025 units in the first week -- a quantum leap from her previous high of 7,200.
For the technologically gifted siren, it all revolves around her laptop. Heap used the Garage Band recording program to make many of the templates for the 13 tracks on "Ellipse." She regularly posts to YouTube -- some 40 video blogs detailed her progress on the album.
And finally, Heap is a regular on Twitter, routinely messaging her legions of followers (with 975,367 and counting, she is the 117th most followed person on the service). During the making of "Ellipse" in her home studio in rural Essex, Twitter often functioned as her sole companion.
"As a result of talking with fans every step of the journey, I feel really comfortable that they're not going to get any kind of bad surprises on this record because they know what's going on, in a way," Heap said during a brief visit to Los Angeles back in July.
