“There’s more of an edge to it. The sounds are edgy and raw,” Jesca Hoop tells me of her latest album, The House That Jack Built, out this Tuesday on Bella Union. The album — the third from the Manchester-based/California-born singer/songwriter — doesn’t stray too far from previous releases (moody, melancholy, and morbidly humorous) but, during a recent phone chat, Hoop does tell me she’s currently more comfortable writing than ever before: “My songwriting has grown quite a bit. My songwriting is more at home now. For the past couple of records I’ve been able to hone down my influences to a blend.”
The House That Jack Built has Jesca considering the bigger things and how they reflect her own personal existence: “I think a lot about what becomes popular with people in Western culture and how it perplexes me… I find myself wondering about the inequality of how we find ourselves cast.” However, she admits that her musings on these things most frequently come about when she’s partaking in relatively mundane moments of everyday life: “I think walking is really good for the mind and I think driving is good for the mind as well… I would say I do a fair deal of eavesdropping in public places. I find there’s so much to glean from hearing other people speak casually.”
Although her new album is just dropping this week, Hoop has done quite a bit in 2012 in addition to finishing the record. She’s currently touring the UK, after having toured the states as support for the Punch Brothers (including an April 24 stop at the TLA): “The Punch Brother tour has been a real highlight. They’re just such great people and astounding musicians.” And she tells me she has plans to return to North America before the year’s end. In the meantime, I would highly recommend checking out her YouTube channel, where she has the official music video for the album’s first single, “Born To,” and her own video commentaries to accompany the album’s tracks.
