“Let Go” by Imogen Heap (piano solo)

Background: You probably heard this song back eight years ago (was it really eight years ago?!) on commercials for the movie Garden State, but if you haven’t heard Imogen Heap play “Let Go” solo on the piano… well then, you really haven’t heard the song.

My song history: I first heard this song (or a piano solo version, rather) a couple of years ago, late, late at night on an Arizona radio station after a long day of driving. I was in the car with my dad and we were driving to Texas, so we had an even longer way to go. It was past midnight, probably closer to one, and somehow in the drivel of radio music, this gorgeous, ephemeral version of an old favorite. I had found the Frou Frou version about a year before Garden State‘s soundtrack made Imogen Heap a household name to any one remotely plugged into the music scene (which I’m not really remotely, anymore… but you know, you have to be in college, in order to survive).  We found rest at a cheap hotel just moments after the last notes of the song ended on the radio… but my goodness did I want more. Of course we’d stopped at a hotel that had no wifi whatsoever, so it was weeks before I could even look it up on the internet and indulge in it a little more.

What drew me in: Well, really the slightest hint of Imogen Heap being involved in anything perks my ears up. (I have to admit, part of the reason I finally consented to watch the Shrek movies was because I knew her cover of “I Need a Hero” was for the credits of the second one). But I especially love recordings of her live stuff. She’s a musical genius, flat out. I’ve never been disappointed with a single thing I’ve heard by her. This has been true as long as I’ve known of her… which as I hinted, dates back to when I was a junior in high school.

For my writing: I turn to Imogen when I don’t know who else to turn to. Her music is always by turns soothing, exciting, challenging, and utterly confounding—especially when it comes to the things she can do with a mixer machine. If I want emotion to burn or linger or chime in just the right way, Imogen Heap is often slipping through my headphones, and this song is one of my absolute favorites.