Santa Monica fell under Jesca Hoop's spell in autumn 2006, making her "Seed of Wonder" the most requested song in her local radio station's history. Hoop re-recorded it for her debut Kismet album, with assistance from Stewart Copeland, whose complex, ever-shifting rhythms enhance the number's uniqueness, sliding it toward hip-hop here, prodding it into a Native American dance there. Hoop is the master of such musical shifts and slides, and Kismet beautifully highlights her constantly altering perspectives. "Out the Back Door," for instance, swings dramatically from hip-hop to lues before leaping unexpectedly into drum'n'bass, while Hoop twirls her vocal styles in even more directions. The lues edge a clutch more tracks to wonderful effect, yet the singer is equally at home with folk, as she beautifully displays across the dreamy "Enemy" and the sublime "House in Heaven." The latter was lyrically inspired by a dramatic Chinese legend, and musically gives a twist of the East to British folk before sweeping into a '40s-styled jazz revue. The elegant, sophisticated "Love and Love Again" takes that latter style to its logical conclusion with a glamorous Hollywood musical arrangement, as Hoop swells and deepens her vocals in homage to Judy Garland. "Love Is All We Have" is a bit less successful, the mostly acoustic backing haunting, but her lyrics seeming a bit trite when themed to the man-made catastrophe that followed Hurricane Katrina. Much better is "Money," which instantly evokes Liza Minnelli's classic but moves the scene and theme from a Berlin café to the L.A. music industry, albeit musically via a South American ango club. "Summertime," a harmony and harmonics-drenched piece of confectionery, is lovely, but one of the least interesting songs on this enchanting and challenging album. It is, of course, the label's pick for first single. There are so many more fascinating songs within that it almost pales in comparison, for this is a set to leave one breathless with wonder.
9 Stars out of TenReared on a mixture of Mormonism and folk music, Jesca Hoop has since lived in the wilderness of Arizona’s homesteads and served as a nanny for Tom Waits. Now her debut album Kismet sees all the influences synergized into an off-balance cacophony, a collection of tunes still half-wild, dancing through the outskirts of the forest with a restless sense of freedom. _Summertime_ .
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Some kind of magical perfectness chilling one to the bone… a soft, daisy-perfumed summer wind blowing in your ears…a fresh grass smell you can’t stop breathing in… an exotic-obscure sensation having you hypnotized the moment she enters your world… What to say? What to write more to describe her? Nothing probably, after hearing her image from Tom Waits’ master eyes; "Jesca Hoop's music
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9 Stars out of TenReared on a mixture of Mormonism and folk music, Jesca Hoop has since lived in the wilderness of Arizona’s homesteads and served as a nanny for Tom Waits. Now her debut album Kismet sees all the influences synergized into an off-balance cacophony, a collection of tunes still half-wild, dancing through the outskirts of the forest with a restless sense of freedom. _Summertime_ .
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Traveling is tiring. Especially when your flight is delayed by 3-ish hours and you get home in the wee hours of the morning. I blame this for my lack of eloquence and usual lengthy but informative musical chatter on this mog post.Jesca Hoop. Former nanny of Tom Waits. Nice little pop song. The end.
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Some kind of magical perfectness chilling one to the bone… a soft, daisy-perfumed summer wind blowing in your ears…a fresh grass smell you can’t stop breathing in… an exotic-obscure sensation having you hypnotized the moment she enters your world… What to say? What to write more to describe her? Nothing probably, after hearing her image from Tom Waits’ master eyes; "Jesca Hoop's music
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Jesca Hoop's debut Kismet is out by September 18th. Go, grab it! It's otherworldy fantabuloustic!!!This is how Tom Waits describes her music:"Jesca Hoop's music is 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."
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Summertime |
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| 2 Seed of Wonder |
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| 3 Enemy |
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| 4 Silverscreen |
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| 5 Money |
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| 6 Dreams in the Hollow |
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| 7 Love Is All We Have |
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| 8 Intelligentactile 101 |
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| 9 Havoc in Heaven |
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| 10 Out the Back Door |
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| 11 Love and Love Again |
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 "Kismet")
