Jesca Hoop

Mon 8 Jul 2019 to Sun 14 Jul 2019

Jesca Hoop - Stonechild

Following on from her highly accliamed 2017 release Memories Are Now, Jesca Hoop's fifth album Stonechild is a beautiful subtle and stark release that sees Hoop step out of her comfort zone and venture into new territory.

Teaming up with producer John Parish (PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding, This is the Kit), the two took a minimal and purist approach. The simplified arrangements draw focus to the fundamental sophistication of the songs. While Hoop's trademark finger-plucked guitar and ethereal textures remain, the songs and their presentation are ever more direct. Parish 'was a gentle collaborator until he killed one of my darlings' Hoop jests. 'I've never been so brutally edited, and I wasn't shy about expressing my discomfort at the sight of my work on the cutting room floor. He said, you will forgive me, and in some way, I think I actually enjoyed that treatment 'being stripped back to the bare basics' albeit painfully'.

Stonechild, Hoop says, is intended to 'wrap its arms around our human planet spinning in its increasingly precarious wobble'. These rich and curious songs derived from themes of our troubled times speak Hoop's heart and mind from her empathetic yet tough loving centre point. With writing so fluid, so natural the result is an album where everything is truly meant.