It feels lazy to liken Jesca Hoop’s sound to that of PJ Harvey or Tori Amos, especially when female indie singer-songwriters are often marginalised in wider public discourse. That said, this Manchester-based Californian’s seventh album, ‘Memories Are Now’, does share characteristics with the work of those artists, demonstrating a surreptitiously poppy vision via a strikingly independent sound.
The title track is an elegantly angry folk song and its lyrics bombard and caress in equal measure: “I’ve got work to be doing/you’re not here to help, go find some other life to ruin.” That last 'r' of ‘ruin’ emerges from the vocal blend as a 'w' sound: ‘wuin’.
This idiosyncrasy is often deployed by Adele, and represents just how much the record jumps around tonally. The track is also superbly un-quantised (read: not played to a click-track) so it's difficult to clap along to. This renders it slightly unnerving and impervious to easy remixing.
That last production choice suggests something broadly confirmed by the rest of the album, namely that Hoop is an artist opposed to creative short cuts and determined to deliver as unfettered a version of her inner voice as possible. This is no surprise coming from an musician who was mentored by Tom Waits, while working as a nanny to his kids, back in Los Angeles.
The Lost Sky is a wonderfully urgent track, full of curious timing switches and haunting, floating harmonies, while Animal Kingdom Chaotic is an intriguing woodland ditty that grows into a kind of anthem. The lyrics identify over-dependence on tech: “You know you wanna take back control, but your computer says no.” The arrangement and melodies are often startling here, if a little cute.
There are less convincing tracks, though. Simon Says sounds like the kind of song you write when you’re bored of writing songs and Unsaid - though full of interesting timing flourishes - also feels a bit meaningless. Production-wise, the latter track actually recalls some of the more boxy toy sounds on Beck’s ‘Midnite Vultures’, but it lacks the gentle humour of that record.
Hoop is a profoundly interesting musician and ‘Memories Are Now’ is probably her best work, but it’s still quite a patchy album. It’s front loaded with genuinely interesting tracks, but rather falls away in the second half. The lyrics never get better than at the start and while she's clearly a writer of rare integrity, one can't help but think this album could be improved with a few more heads on it. It's definitely worth a listen, though, and look out for those 'r' / 'w' sounds. They're strangely captivating.
Jesca Hoop Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Tue March 28 2017 - LEEDS Brudenell Social Club
Wed March 29 2017 - LONDON Lexington
Thu March 30 2017 - BRISTOL Exchange
Fri March 31 2017 - LEICESTER Musician
Sat April 01 2017 - BRIGHTON Patterns
Sun April 02 2017 - NORWICH Epic Studios
Mon April 03 2017 - CAMBRIDGE Portland Arms
Wed April 05 2017 - LIVERPOOL Magnet Liverpool
Thu April 06 2017 - MANCHESTER Gorilla
Fri December 01 2017 - LONDON Union Chapel
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