Singles

Jesca Hoop - Feast of the Heart

Tiffany Daniels 05/02/2010

Rating: 4.5/5

Sullen beats and a single bass-line set to the distorted vocals of a jubilant if emphatic frontwoman; this is exactly the kind of thing I've come to expect of Brooklyn resident Elizabeth Sharp. Except in this case, the captivating noise is not coming from Ill Ease or any of Sharp's recurring projects, it's coming from California's Jesca Hoop, who has recently relocated to Manchester.

Despite being born a Mormon - a denomination you do not readily associate with creativity - Hoop has been surrounded by DIY art from a young age, when her recently divorced Mother turned their basement into a theatre. Finding a mentor in Tom Waits, in later life she embraced music and has been putting her work to record since her Silverscreen demos in 2004. Feast of the Heart was included on 2009's Hunting My Dress and is due for release in Britain on February 22nd.

It's fantastically catchy and simultaneously hypnotic; the track is plagued with a moody atmosphere and its monstrous lyrical content echoes early era PJ Harvey and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The instrumentation settles around a pounding bass line which varies infrequently - any change in temperament is at the hands of the percussion, which occasionally lifts the song into a territory last crossed by Le Tigre. Lo-fi at its best, it's not wonder Hoop has got tongues wagging recently - she's certainly a name to remember.

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Release date: 22/02/2010