by Lauren Gitlin

Some musical careers are unwittingly launched by a reserved hatred for school. This was certainly the case with British songstress Imogen Heap, 27. "I kind of realized the more instruments I began to learn as a kid, the more lessons I could get out of - things that I didn't like, like physics and geography and stuff like that," she says. A classically trained pianist from the age of three, Heap didn't dabble in pop music until later. "I didn't really understand hip-hop, youth culture, or boyfriends, or anything like that until I was thirteen," says Heap. "I got sent to boarding school. My parents split up and that's when I began to write songs kind of as an outlet."

Imogen, who cut her first album, "I Megaphone," at the ripe old age of eighteen and released it in 1998, draws as much from her classical roots as she does from early techno, blending deft piano-driven melodies, layers of electronic beats and bass lines, and a voice that runs the gamut from husky to abrasive to ethereal. Thematically, love and loneliness supply a hefty chunk of the driving force, but moments of tenderness and triumphant strength balance out the darker bits. Her latest solo effort, "Speak For Yourself," (which features the new track "Goodnight and Go," ) is currently being self-released via her website, http://www.imogenheap.com

*Imogen Heap has no plans to tour at this time.