Customer Reviews

Details

5 star:		(200)
4 star:		(43)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

In my own humble opinion, Frou Frou's 'Details' is the best album to come out (so far) in 2002 and is one of the best debuts I've ever heard before. I admit to being an eccentric music fan who's purchased quite a lot of CDs this year but Frou Frou's 'Details' is the one that I find myself listening to the most. And while everyone can compare Imogen Heap's darkly lavished vocals to the likes of Beth Orton and pop goddess Dido, Imogen's brooding and crooning has a sound that's delightfully her own. And what makes this pop-electronic album even better is the fact that Imogen's backed up by producer/arranger Guy Sigsworth, whos worked with such remarkable talents as Bjork and Madonna. The lyrics (which mostly deal with relationships and breakups) are as sassy and as cunning as the hooking melody lines themselves. There's honestly not one bad song on here, and they're all extremely catchy. "Let Go" gives hope to mend a broken heart by expressing how there's beauty in the breakdown while "Maddening Shroud" merrily portrays how the pains of hoping to fix something that's already damaged just isn't worth the time or exasperation. "It's Good To Be In Love" seems to set loose from all of the gloom and points out the finer times of being in love, but it's on songs like "Must Be Dreaming", "Psychobbable" and "Ssh" that Frou Frou (whom are named after the French word for the rustle of silk) truly shine on.

'Details' in an amazing album and I am eagerly hoping and anticipating a follow-up to this incredible accomplishment!

This receives my Highest recommendation!

"Frou Frou" apparently means "rustle of silk," a seemingly appropriate name for one of the best trip-hop bands since Portishead. Their debut album "Details" is shimmery, textured music, mixing feathery ballads with funky pop, and all sung in Imogene Heap's sweet vocals.

Catchy trip-hop forms the core of this, especially the solid, fast-paced "Breathe In," which has a slightly fantastical sound. It doesn't get much more fun than the swirling catchy "Must Be Dreaming," bouncy little pop song "Shh," or the delicately pensive "Maddening Shroud." These songs mix pop rhythms with ambient sound, and end up getting the best of both.

There's a softer, less poppy side to Frou Frou as well. "Let Go" is a delicate little song accompanied by piano and little electronic swooshes. So is "The Dumbing Down of Love," a gentle blend of electronica and piano melody, and the minimalist electronica of "Psychobabble," which is mostly Heap's breathy voice against some dark electronic sounds.

Imogene Heap returns in a big way with producer Guy Sigsworth. And this time around, Heap gets all the attention she deserves. A few of the songs aren't quite top-quality, but each one has its own sweet appeal. And most surprisingly, Frou Frou manages to do ballads and trip-hop equally well, giving a haunted air to the former and a bright one to the latter.

It's virtually impossible to blend pop, electronica and ambient music this seamlessly. But somehow Frou Frou does it. The best qualities of each musical style are all captured and blended together, usually in a blend of slow piano, shimmery synth and low-key guitar. If it doesn't make your ears tingle, then you must be deaf.

Heap's voice is a bit like pop newcomer Jem's -- it's sweet and wispy, yet surprisingly strong. And it has the smooth quality of someone who is completely in tune with the music. And she brings a lot of feeling to the wistful songs about emotional turmoil and losing love: "If love is surrender/Then whose war is it anyway?"

Funky, catchy trip-hop and delicate ballads are what Frou Frou is all about. Sweet, shimmery and catchy, this is a must-have for lovers of good pop.

This is a truly great album. I highly recommend purchasing this album for anyone who is intrigued by "Let Go" which was featured prominently in "Garden State" and on its soundtrack. After originally "sharing" this track I was interested in hearing more of Frou Frou. As a consequence, I read the other reviews and listened to the sample tracks, and then decided that I would give the album a listen. Since I received it, this album has yet to dissapoint and I cannot see how it will ever do so.

I love to listen to great music and almost all of the tracks are impressive according to any criteria I know of. I recommend buying this album and using a great set of 2-channel (stereo) speakers to drive it. I use a pair of Maggie MMGs and they make this album sound even better than my computer speakers, iPod, or Bose car system. A good set of 2-channel speakers will richly reward your ears; there are shades of texture and impressive soundstaging that were only evident on the Magnepans.

Further, there is not a bad track on the album. How often can that be said about any album?

Moreover, and more importantly than the spontaneous listening experience, the lyrics are appropriately contextualized by the audible experience and in most cases it provides an almost perfect texture (admittedly the texture is far richer when well soundstaged, but the tracks are beautiful even when powered by less discerning speakers).

"details" is a truly beautiful album by any measure I am aware of. So surrender to the beauty of the breakdown and experience the entire album. "Hello. Goodbye. And we're taking calls; now what was the question?" (Track 02-Breathe In-02:39)

If anyone knows of similar works, pls advise. Thanks for reading; hope this helps.

This is the best female artist album I own. I treasure it more than Madonna's Ray Of Light, Natalie Imbruglia's Left Of The Middle, any of Sarah McLachlan's albums, more than any female artist album I can think of. It's easily one of my all-time favorite albums. I cannot believe it was originally released in 2000. I didn't discover this cd until shortly after hearing Let Go in the film Garden State.

It was love from the beginning. Let Go's appearance at the end of Garden State is a landmark moment in my life of media exposure. It defined a feeling I was looking for, a life-change that I needed. Let Go is one of my favorite songs ever.

I purchased Frou Frou's Details a couple months after watching Garden State. I remember how excited I was just to own an album with Let Go on it. Now I'm excited when I hear any song from Details. Let Go amazed me with its violin samples, beautiful introduction, simple keyboard melody, lullaby resemblance, vocal track, and on and on. The album is the same. Digitized bass, woodwind samples, high hats, warped vocals, beautiful ambience and amazing sound effects... this is electronica perfection. Imogene Heap's voice is simultaneously heart-breaking and hopeful. Samples of her voice slide through the air like sheets of silk slide between bodies, which likely explains why the band chose its name (see Amazon review). Breathe In... I don't know how to explain it. Most of these songs I associate with images and feelings, not concrete descriptions. Just the sound of Heap calling out "Cause I love you..." is enough to make my day. Her whispers haunt me. It's Good To Be In Love is beautiful. "I'm happy you're in love." Must Be Dreaming is an excellent track with a fast tempo that makes the song borderline techno/trance.

"Euphoria, I can't take anymore..."

Then Psychobabble scares the crap out of everyone. Bells and possessed bass lines, violins, chilling vocals and the harsh truth make this song great. Only Got One is so good it actually made me like the cliche "you've only got one life to live."

Then there's this Shh song. The glowing, reverberating bells... the free-flowing vocal harmonies... "Are we having fun yet..." I still can't believe how classic this whole album is. Shh is fantastic. Hear Me Out defies rejection and will forever typify the sentiment of the hopeless lover. When you don't care what anyone thinks about your refusal to let go of someone, this is the song to listen to. This is the song that defines being in that position. It's amazing.

Maddening Shroud is so good it's ridiculous. It's bedtime music. It's wedding music. It's movie music. I mean, I hear this song and life becomes good. It's all ok. Throw away what hurts you. Flicks is another great song. The layers of Heap's voice come together and bliss is what I feel. Song after song I tell you. Love drips from this album. The Dumbing Down Of Love elegantly closes the casket on this masterpiece: cry.

I am truly at a loss for words here. I love this album. I will remember this album for life. This is music for life.

Nothing could go wrong with the perfect combination of Imogen Heap and Guy Sigsworth. Heap with her hauntingly ethereal vocals is reminiscent of Sarah McLachlan (and even Sinead O Connor) and Sigsworth's production is as impeccable as ever. Plus you can count one of the world's bigest superstar, Madonna, as a fan.

On their debut album, Frou Frou cooks up a delicious fare of pop with a touch of minimalistic electronica, thanks to Sigsworth....

The album is a gem from start to finish. Excellent tracks include Breathe In, It's Good To Be In Love, Only Got One, Hear Me Out, Ssh, and the remake of Acacia's 97 Maddening Shroud that brings a new touch to the song. The closing track, The Dumbing Down Of Love, is a gorgeously haunting ballad that's can't be ignore.

This is by far the one of the best album I have heard this year. Nice songs, nice vocals and nice production! ABSOLUTELY FAB! Too bad, USA is gonna give it a miss, but I am glad it would be released there anyway.

I first saw a review for this CD on the WB.com. They have some pretty good music in some of their shows (case in point: Coldplay on Smallville). I downloaded the main single, Breath In. It completely blew my mind. I knew right then that I needed to get this CD, and I can't say enough about it.

I was talking to a friend and he asked me to discribe why it was that I liked it so much, and I couldn't put it into words. Maybe it's the awesome beats, maybe it's the enchanting voice, or maybe it's the melodies. I don't know, but whatever it is, it's AMAZING!

Favorite songs are: Let go (sooooo good)
Psychobabble (don't judge the whole CD on this song. It's on of those things were you either love it of you hate it)
Shh (o....mi...goodness. SOOOO good! How you can take a simple sound and transfor it into such an awesome song is something only Guy and Imogean could do!)
Maddening Shroud (these lyrics speak to me)
Only Got One (Wicked helicopter thing in the beginning that slows down and melds into the beat...wow....)

GET THIS CD!

"Frou Frou" apparently means "rustle of silk," a seemingly appropriate name for one of the best trip-hop bands since Portishead. Their debut album "Details" is shimmery, textured music, mixing feathery ballads with funky pop, and all sung in Imogene Heap's sweet vocals.

Catchy trip-hop forms the core of this, especially the solid, fast-paced "Breathe In," which has a slightly fantastical sound. It doesn't get much more fun than the swirling catchy "Must Be Dreaming," bouncy little pop song "Shh," or the delicately pensive "Maddening Shroud." These songs mix pop rhythms with ambient sound, and end up getting the best of both.

There's a softer, less poppy side to Frou Frou as well. "Let Go" is a delicate little song accompanied by piano and little electronic swooshes. So is "The Dumbing Down of Love," a gentle blend of electronica and piano melody, and the minimalist electronica of "Psychobabble," which is mostly Heap's breathy voice against some dark electronic sounds. And a track not included on the American version finishes up this album: A delicate, trippy piano, "Old Piano," with its muffled horns and wispy vocals.

Imogene Heap returns in a big way with producer Guy Sigsworth. And this time around, Heap gets all the attention she deserves. A few of the songs aren't quite top-quality, but each one has its own sweet appeal. And most surprisingly, Frou Frou manages to do ballads and trip-hop equally well, giving a haunted air to the former and a bright one to the latter.

It's virtually impossible to blend pop, electronica and ambient music this seamlessly. But somehow Frou Frou does it. The best qualities of each musical style are all captured and blended together, usually in a blend of slow piano, shimmery synth and low-key guitar. If it doesn't make your ears tingle, then you must be deaf.

Heap's voice is a bit like pop newcomer Jem's -- it's sweet and wispy, yet surprisingly strong. And it has the smooth quality of someone who is completely in tune with the music. And she brings a lot of feeling to the wistful songs about emotional turmoil and losing love: "If love is surrender/Then whose war is it anyway?"

Funky, catchy trip-hop and delicate ballads are what Frou Frou is all about. Sweet, shimmery and catchy, this is a must-have for lovers of good pop.

For all you Imogen Heap fans this is great news! She's back! It's Imogen Heap in her new creation, Frou Frou. Here she teams up with Guy Sigsworth to make some wonderful songs that will fill up the empty space since Imogen's last release "i Megaphone" in 1998.
Imogen brings back her wispy yet strong voice with its wide range and comfy feel. The songs are a combination of pop, trip-hop and ambient with catchy melodies (without being trite) and funky rhythms.
"It's Good to be in Love" is a favorite of mine as it sounds like it would fit in very nicely on "i Megaphone". It's also radio friendly and if any station is not playing it, they should be.
"Must be Dreaming" also sounds very radio ready. I just know if this stuff were played Frou Frou would be hugely famous.
"Hear Me Out" could be this recording's "Come Here Boy" which I believe made the biggest splash off of her first CD.
If you liked Imogen's solo stuff, you'll love this as well. If you aren't familiar with her and you like artists like Poe, Fiona Apple and so on, then check her out. You won't regret it.
(see full review on Collectedsounds.com)

Absolutely one of my favorite albums. Every time I play it, I want more. Imogen Heap is like prozac for the soul. It just moves you to another world and lifts your spirits. This is what music should sound like.

Frou Frou's Details was pretty much the soundtrack of my predominant relationship for 2002-2003, but on closer listen reveals that it was much more suited for our break-up and post-love woes. I think it meant a lot to us because it was something we shared and somewhat discovered together. I was already familiar with vocalist Imogen Heap's solo work from her terrifyingly good debut, I Megaphone; and he, a fan of Bjork, Seal, and Madonna, was more familiar with Guy Sigsworth's production. For them and for us, it was a match made in heaven. Beneath all the expressive voice and electronic effects lie some pretty devastating lyrics - remixed melancholy, if you will.

Don't get me wrong, Immi (as her friends call her, and I'll gratuitously include myself in that lot since I did listen to LFO on her iPod) does more than sing and Guy does more then fiddle with knobs but it wasn't until their writing of "Flicks" that they decided to form Frou Frou and be more than just a performer and a producer (Guy produced I Megaphone's lead-off track, "Getting Scared"). "Flicks" lyrics ironically parallel the story of my own relationship as "a flicker of the future could've saved the cindered sister ... the ones to come feel too far to care." The song rises up from a simple electronic loop and Immi's vocals slowly adding a drum beat, guitars, and a swirling trumpet before layering three levels of the vocals. "Let Go" opens the disc with a rather peaceful and building string section as Immi asks for the deciding word on the future of a relationship, "It's alright cause there's beauty in the breakdown." First single "Breathe In" made modest waves here in the States and slightly larger ones abroad with its unusual guitars and drum beat. "It's Good To Be In Love," the album's decided highlight, is deceptively a love song as its bright melody masks the true nature of the song, "It's good to be in love / it really does suit you / just like everything / I'm happy you're in love / Cause every colour goes where you do." In concert, Frou Frou take out all the digital trickery and leave this number as a solo piano piece illustrating that their compositions can hold the same emotional pull, if not more so, without the assistance of technology. The haunting "Psychobabble" with it's stalker imagery ("Do just what I tell you and no one will get hurt") would send chills down the most secure of spines. Its string section builds to add tension, handbells clang, the distant resonance of the bassline, the precise quietness as the waterphone takes the solo all create truly one of the most terrifying songs I've heard without resorting to shrieking or any other instrumental/vocal histrionics. And while "Psychobabble" is more produced than all the other tracks it is the fact that it keeps the sounds to their natural elements that makes it all the more powerful. The simple "The Dumbing Down Of Love" closes off the disc and is primarily a solo piano piece with only the slightest dabbles of reverb and effect thrown in for weight. A string section slowly works its way into the mix as does a trumpet adding their appropriate blend of magic and mourning

To examine these pieces individually really does injustice to their album as a whole because with Details Frou Frou creates more of an atmosphere rather than standalone songs. A mature atmosphere deeply soaked in vibrant hues slowly darkening with the realization of a broken heart. In "The Dumbing Down Of Love," Imogen exclaims, "music is worthless unless it can make a complete stranger break down and cry" and before you know it that's what happens, the heart coated in deep purple tears as the disc unknowingly trails off like a conversation left hanging in the air ... the last conversation in a failed romance ...