Frou Frou (partially found unreleased tracks from British electronic duo; 2001-2004)

Frou Frou members Imogen Heap (left) and Guy Sigsworth (right).

Status: Partially Found

Frou Frou is a British electronic duo made up of vocalist Imogen Heap and producer Guy Sigsworth. They released their first and only studio album Details in June 2002, which was critically acclaimed with several singles being released as well. Their most popular song is Let Go, which was featured in the 2004 independent film Garden State and briefly in the 2006 movie The Holiday. Even though the pair disbanded to musically go their separate ways in 2003 after going on tour to promote the album, they temporarily reformed in 2004 to record a cover of Bonnie Tyler’s song Holding Out For A Hero for the Shrek 2 movie soundtrack. In November 2017, it was announced that Frou Frou would be reuniting in conjunction with Imogen Heap’s Mycelia World Tour.

However, despite releasing only one album, several songs the duo recorded are still unreleased. For years, only a couple demos had circulated online, including the first half of the demo Deal with It, and the full version of the demo A New Kind Of Love.

2001 Internal Promotional CD

On April 30th, 2013, Discogs.com user "ezquivelf" added a Frou Frou promotional CD listing from 2001 that was made for internal use only. The CD contains completely different demos of all of the songs that made the final version of their album Details, as well as two other unreleased songs: Sane Again and Reprise.

Track listing of a promotional CD containing unreleased demos and song titles that are different from final versions.

According to Mark Wood, Frou Frou/Imogen Heap’s manager, Sane Again was a really early demo from 1999. However, even though he could not find the demo Reprise, he said it was probably a different track like Sane Again or an extension of Old Piano (which would later be released as a bonus track on the enhanced version of "Details".)

On July 20th, 2018, Discogs.com user "michael85", who also owned a copy of the CD, explained more in detail about the two unreleased tracks:

"Sane Again: A dial up modem has never been more comforting. Imogen's babbling of "bah doh doh da" encompasses the room as a chain reaction of Guy Sigsworth instrumentals infects the room. Imogen was clearly in the midst of writing "Hear Me Out" during this one. Reprise: A beautiful almost tear inducing end to a perfect album. "Reprise" teleports the listener into a world that is very clearly "Details" at it's finest. It's Sigsworth at his shining moment with subtle glimpses of Heap undertones and flashbacks of "Details" as a whole. It's a shame that this was cut from the album as it shows the strengths of both artists with almost minimal effort."

-michael85

It was uncertain to most fans that these demos would ever be released, since Mark Wood and the other owners of the CD didn't want the early demos being sent out to the public. Reprise was later given to artist Mozez for his 2005 album, So Still. The song, now titled Venus Rise, follows the same progression as the original Reprise demo with minor additional production by Guy Sigsworth, as well as vocals being written for the song by Sigsworth and Mozez. Sigsworth produced another song for the artist under the name Feel Free, but it is not known if the track is another repurposed demo or newly produced for the album. However, On April 7th, 2022, after over twenty years of speculation surrounding the unreleased material, Imogen and Guy announced on a social media livestream that they will be releasing a demo extended play titled Off Cuts for the respective twentieth anniversary of Details in early June. The album features a reworked version of Sane Again, rereleases of Deal with It and A New Kind of Love, and three other unreleased songs, one of which is the original demo for Guitar Song. Reprise and the original version of Sane Again are not featured on the EP, but it has been rumored by fans that the full 2001 demo CD will be released on Imogen's app in the future. Due to Reprise being given away, it is unlikely that Frou Frou will ever release the original demo officially. A version of Reprise was anonymously uploaded to archive.org.

Guitar Song

Guitar Song is another unreleased track by Frou Frou, with some nicknaming it “the holy grail of Frou Frou songs.” Even though the name of the song is known, and has been sought after by fans ever since Frou Frou started to gain popularity, no sound clips from the demo have ever leaked online.

Very little information has been known about this song for quite awhile, but the title reveals it is a song based on guitar. Apparently, the demo has sound effects containing children playing at a playground to create a "sense of space." It has also been rumored that it was actually a demo that was never finished. Imogen wasn’t happy with the song and abandoned it, although this has never been confirmed.

On August 31st, 2018, Frou Frou performed Guitar Song live for the first time ever on TheWaveVR, which specializes in musical experiences and concerts for virtual reality users. The live version of the song would later be released as the duo’s first new song in 15 years on April 19th, 2019.

On May 6th, 2022, Frou Frou released the full demo of Guitar Song onto streaming platforms from their Off Cuts album, making this demo found.

All Out of Love, Sublime, Feel Easy and more

There are a handful of demos that were not included on Off Cuts. The titles All Out of Love and Sublime have been known for years, having been written around the same time as the other demos on Off Cuts. Sublime and another song called Turn Up The Music were cowritten with songwriter Desmond Child. A collaboration with King Unique/Watkins titled Feel Easy is listed on an older version of Heap's website, having been slated to release in 2002. For unknown reasons, the track was never formally announced or released, with the website being the only known mention of it. There are rumors of more tracks existing, but the titles remain unknown. It is unknown why these songs remain unreleased, but there is a small chance they may eventually end up on Imogen Heap's app as well.

Gallery

Frou Frou performing "Guitar Song" live on TheWaveVR.

"A New Kind Of Love"

"Deal With It"

"Guitar Song (Demo)"