JESCA HOOP
Photo by Matt Jacob (Memphis Industries)
Santa Rosa, California native Jesca Hoop has displayed a unique creative range rooted in folk rock across her five studio albums. Raised in a musically-inclined Mormon family, she went off on her own while still in her teens. While working as a nanny for Tom Waits’s family, her music gained wider exposure after some airplay by KCRW’s Nic Harcourt in Los Angeles. Since 2007, she has been releasing her own albums while collaborating with musicians such as Sam Beam, Guy Garvey, Peter Gabriel, and many more.
In this interview, she talks about her most recent album Stonechild, what can be gained from losing religious faith, the roots of language in her work, and some speculations as to why her music resonates so deeply with many people.
Interview by Tyler Nesler
You've said that instinct guides you creatively more so than making firm plans. When you are developing a song, how broad is your initial instinct for it? Do you start with any specific theme or narrative in mind or do these aspects often emerge from more ephemeral scraps of ideas or impressions?
To set us on the correct course, I've said I am guided more by instinct than by study. My relationship to the mechanics of music is very much one of self discovery, as I have not been technically trained. Many songs come from no more than a feeling and often times a feeling that cannot be defined. Songs are often the results of an attempt to define or explain the feeling and along the way some sort of story is told. If I pull from from schools of thought it is to help build the bridge of communication between myself and the listener. There are a great many tools and methods that can help the writer/composer engage the listener in even the most abstract expressions.
The songs on your latest album Stonechild don't shy away from some of the grotesqueries and scariness of life, but I don't hear any overt sense of despairing or fatalism. Is it a natural approach for you to present difficult issues such as misogyny and racism and violence with such poetic equanimity, or is it sometimes a challenge for you to maintain that balance?
Music is a great medium for exploration and is fertile ground for any and all expressions along life’s arching spectrum. You can go anywhere with it. I am most engaged with my own writing when I am exploring a complication…something that needs unpicking…something that requires my own humanity to reach toward compassion. I think this is why I choose to walk on the dark side often times.
Writing is often my own attempt to understand and also exercise empathy. Through song, I think I am always insisting that we face our nature and accept the wild vast spectrum of life’s expressions. I think this is a response to being raised by a Christian faith to deny nature. I would say “perhaps I am searching for truth,” but that would sound lofty.
Stonechild, Memphis Industries, 2019
Stonechild was produced with several contributors such as Holly Laessig, Kate Stables, John Parish, and Jess Wolfe. What were some unexpected creative aspects that these contributors brought to the project?
With the singers you mention, Holly and Jess aka Lucius and also Kate Stables from This is the Kit…Well they brought their characterful voices and an overall result I could not have replicated on my own. Whereas I have always done my own backing vocals I have come to appreciate the value of gathering different voices to create chorus.
John Parish brought new vibes to the meaning of production for me. In a male dominated role, John as a producer was not the average sexist norm and didn’t “mansplain.” He was more collaborative and willing to simply explore my ideas rather than mansplaining them down as a knee jerk reaction. Long live John Parish.
When you lost your original religious faith you have said that you gained faith in people. Is your faith in people based more on individuals, or do you have faith in humanity as a whole, even in these very unstable times?
I trust that humans are participating perfectly within the cycles of nature. We are both creative and destructive. Like with all things, just as there was a beginning for us…surely there is an end. The Gods we’ve created are subject to the same laws that govern the cosmos. Do I have faith that humans will keep the balance well enough to survive as a race? No…but that does not mean that we have failed ourselves. Transformation is inevitable. Do I have faith that we will learn to live in harmony with nature as to ensure not just our survival but peaceful, bountiful existence…? Hmmmmm…we have not found a way as of yet. Is it possible…? Yes. Do I love people…? Undyingly. Do I have faith in individuals…? Yes. Do I have faith in groups…? Only to comply with their nature. As we see in far too many human interventions with nature…aggression often wins. If we want harmony…the more nuanced and life giving expressions need to find more clever means of seduction. Educating girls is the place to start.
While you have deftly moved through different styles throughout your career, do you see a kind of through line or foundation to your song writing which remains as an enduring essence to your work?
Language I suppose. I consider my primary practice to be the study of melody, rhythm, poetry and character…all of these are components of Language. Music is a language in itself. Style or genre are just dialects.
You've worked and collaborated with several notable musicians such as Peter Gabriel, Sam Beam, Guy Garvey, Willy Mason, and more. What's been a particularly rewarding or surprising collaboration for you over the years?
All of the above were meaningful collaborations in different ways. My friendship with Guy changed my life in the way that it brought me to England. As a result of touring with Elbow…I moved to the UK and have been here for eleven years now. That was certainly a surprise…
Who is a key early musical influence for you, perhaps someone you would even want to collaborate with in some alternate universe?
I would have loved to duet with Judee Sill…perhaps write a musical with her.
The music video for "Red White and Black" off Stonechild is striking in its violence and intensity. How closely did you work with the director Elia Petridis on the concept and execution of this work? How do you think the theme of nonstop attacks and fleeting escape fit the song? Your guitar itself becomes a literal weapon.
Once we settled on a treatment, I turned the reigns over to Elia and his team for the most part and acted as one of his subjects. It is an unexpected marriage of music and image I admit. The song does not sound violent but is in fact deeply violent. The visual is meant simply to lead you to the water…to entertain a listen…to listen again…closer…and upon your own accord…to then drink. Anti-racism is a personal affair.
Your dedicated listeners seem to connect deeply with your music. Why do you think your work resonates with such effectiveness for some people? Is it an honesty of approach, a simple credo of staying true to your own instincts?
I can’t say really…I have not had the pleasure of being someone else…but if I were to guess…the people who connect with my music are looking for wholesome consumption. Like farm to table served by someone they trust has done the work — albeit a rough and ready fool. I think they are listening for a nutrient experience. I hope they turn to my music to feel more fully connected within the beautiful spectrum of life. Does that sound lofty? It wouldn’t be my first offense I suppose.
What's coming up for you in the near future? Any new recordings or projects in the works?
Well it's time to make a new record…so I am taking all of my recently awarded COVID time and writing my little tail off. All of the tours and festivals that were suspended this year will hopefully resume next year. We shall see. 2020, what a fucking year. What’s next?
Listen to and buy Jesca’s music and check for updates on her site.
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Tyler Nesler is a New York City-based freelance writer and the Founder and Managing Editor of INTERLOCUTOR Magazine.
