Jesca Hoop

Jessica Ada "Jesca" Hoop (born April 21, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, who writes and performs in diverse musical styles. She has released seven studio albums of her own, as well as live, acoustic and dual albums with others.

Biography Early life Hoop was born in Santa Rosa, California, to traditional Mormon parents Janette and Jack Dennis Hoop. She grew up singing hymns and folk tunes with her family in four-part harmony. At age 14, her parents separated, and two years later she broke away from her Mormon religion. Hoop described abandoning her faith as a process of detoxification, saying, "Now I feel free of it: I have faith in people".

Career 2003–2007 While she had been creating music since she was a teenager, being a survival guide provided Hoop with the "mental space to write as I worked". . He and his wife Kathleen Brennan became instrumental in developing her career and brought her in contact with his music publisher Lionel Conway. Conway sent a demo of the song "Seed of Wonder" to the DJ Nic Harcourt who began to play the song on Morning Becomes Eclectic on KCRW. It became one of the most requested songs on the show and created a considerable amount interest in the acoustic live shows Hoop had begun to play around Los Angeles.

2008–present

As a result of meeting Tom Piper, the touring manager of the band Elbow, Hoop moved to Manchester, England in 2008. Initially she found it difficult to adjust "as a California girl, I find it hard to stay under that canopy of cloud". She worked as a backing singer on Peter Gabriel's New Blood Tour in 2011, including some TV performances. The following year she released The House That Jack Built. In 2013 and 2014 she released Complete Kismet Acoustic and Undress, re-interpretations of songs from her albums Kismet and Hunting My Dress respectively. In 2016, Hoop released Love Letter for Fire, an album of duets with American singer-songwriter Sam Beam (Iron & Wine). Jesca Hoop signed with the label Sub Pop and announced that she would release the album Memories Are Now on February 10, 2017. In 2019, Hoop released her fifth studio album Stonechild , which reached #1 in the UK Official Independent Album Breakers Chart. Order of Romance was release in 2022 , and in 2026, Hoop launched Long Wave Home, followed by an international tour.

Collaborations Hoop has collaborated with many recording artists, including Stewart Copeland, Guy Garvey, Willy Mason, Blake Mills, Shearwater, Erika Wennerstrom, The Ditty Bops and many more. Hoop's extensive touring since her debut record saw her opening for Mark Knopfler, Elbow, Placebo, EELS, Shuggie Otis, Iron & Wine, Andrew Bird, Punch Brothers, Shearwater and The Ditty Bops.

On April 15, 2016, Hoop released Love Letter for Fire, an album of duets with American singer-songwriter Iron & Wine, on Sub Pop. The album features contributions from Wilco's Glenn Kotche, Rob Burger, Eyvind Kang, Sebastian Steinberg, and Edward Rankin-Parker. It was produced, recorded, and mixed by Tucker Martine. Hoop and Iron & Wine toured North America in support of the album, starting in May 2016.

Style Hoop's style has been characterised as largely experimental with folk, rock, and electronic influences. Her early mentor, Tom Waits, described it as, "like a four-sided coin. She is an old soul, like a black pearl, a good witch or a red moon. Her music is like going swimming in a lake at night".

She often finds that, "I have an identity crisis every time I write a catalogue of songs, I think: what is this music? Where does it fit?". She explained her tendency to move between a number of styles as, "I am impressed by the power of music and its ability to transform the vessel it enters. I am everyday affected by it. If I want to change my mood, I change my music".

Discography Studio Albums Kismet (2007) Hunting My Dress (2009) The House That Jack Built (2012) Memories Are Now (2017) Stonechild (2019) Order of Romance (2022) Long Wave Home (2026)

Acoustic Albums The Complete Kismet Acoustic (2013) – live acoustic versions of songs mostly from Kismet Undress (2014) – acoustic reinterpretations of songs from Hunting My Dress The Deconstruction of Jack's House (2021) –stripped back acoustic version of songs from The House That Jack Built Selective Memory (2025) – acoustic versions of songs from Memories Are Now Albums with others Love Letter for Fire (with Sam Beam) (2016)

EPs Silverscreen Demos (2004) Kismet [EP] promo (2007) Kismet Acoustic (2008) Snowglobe (2011) Five Songs Live (2014)