Jesca Hoop preview

Jesca Hoop
Double Door, Chicago
Sunday, October 7, 2007

As a musician, a job reference from Tom Waits is worth its weight in gold. And so begins Jesca Hoop’s road to a record deal.

Eschewing her Mormon upbringing, Hoop traveled before settling in as a nanny in the Waits household where the street poet and his wife/co-creator Kathleen Brennan soon discovered their hired help had a knack for songwriting. With Waits’ blessing and social ties, one of these songs, “Seed Of Wonder,” became a staple on Santa Monica’s KCRW. Once given the seal of approval from the station’s “Morning Becomes Eclectic” host Nic Harcourt, numerous requests from listeners rolled in. The rest just fell into place.

Hoop’s debut, Kismet (3Entertainment/Red Ink/Columbia), is aptly titled considering the circumstances surrounding the young ingénue’s lucky break. The album encompasses the many facets of her style. Throughout 11 tracks, Hoop never once stays within one particular genre. On the elegant “Love And Love Again,” she plays it like Diana Krall while “Summertime” owes a debt to Imogen Heap’s quirky, computerized bits. Hoop’s vocals have much in common with the British Heap. At turns playfully childlike, especially on the otherworldly Hurricane Katrina treatise “Love Is All We Have,” Hoop’s voice projects a majestic quality even while retaining an innocuous groove.

Jesca Hoop opens for Matt Pond PA.

— Janine Schaults

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly