Album Review: Jesca Hoop - Kismet

While reading a fellow blogger’s blog I ran into an album-cover which looked really interesting. I typed in her name in Google and found that she has been the nanny of Tom Waits’ children. Interesting to say the least. So I got my hands on her debut, called Kismet. The first song title is “Summertime”. That name kind off reminded me of Norah Jones’ Sunrise. Her sound however, is completely different from Norah Jones, or any other artist that I know off.


“Summertime” starts this record of with a very light and happy tune. A song that indeed feels like Summertime; birds flying around, the sun shining through the leafs. Just close your eyes and you would start to forget that it is only slightly above zero on the other side of that window. The next song “Seed of Wonder” has a very addictive guitar-lick in it that plays almost throughout the whole song. Around this little lick the other instruments develop constantly though. It is a very dynamic and playful song. At some moments it sounds very empty, while other sections are heavy on percussion (a bit like Byork?). According to an interview with Jesca, she wanted to hear something that was fresh and new to her ears. Here she succeeded.

“Enemy” consists of Jesca’s voice and a single acoustic guitar. She gives, just like in the other songs, a really nice flow to the lyrics. This becomes even more apparent in “Silverscreen”, in my opinion one of the best songs on this record. Her singing style is a lot different here compared to the previous song. A bit child-like, with a little accent. It feels like you are sitting in an old cinema in the 1930’s, and indeed are hoping that they’ve done “good editing”.

“Money” is the song that she dishes in its lyrics: ”Cause if you want to belong you write a sing-a-long”. After a few listens I am singing the chorus together with her. She likes to play with her music and lyrics, and together they have a very strange, but nice, chemistry. In the process she also creates her own sound. “Dreams in the hollow” is again a bit softer and more intimate. It feels like opening a small Pandora’s box, and seeing a little band performing in it. One on one with you in a dark room.

Then the album continues to a little tribute to the victims of hurricane Katrina. “Love is all we have” is again a little acoustic song. Very basic, but also very effective. It allows her voice to come more to the foreground. I especially like the creaking in the background. Like a ship getting a heavy beating on the waves of the sea. I also started to notice that she dubs her voice a lot on this album. It sounds very good, but I am curious how she supports it on her own, on stage.

“Intelligentactile 101” is just a brilliant song that floats somewhere between heaven and earth as a perfect living being. It even has a real rockin’ chorus. And it all fits together as one song! Seeing as the lyrics are about a little girl who’s still in her mother’s belly, this would be my first choice as a single including a video. Fun lyrics, it sounds highly addictive and you can even create a mosh-pit at some moments.

After this absolute highlight we go back into the mystic with “Havoc in Heaven”, which is followed by the more up-tempo and experimental “Out the back door”. You should consider the use of the word “experimental” to be relative, since this whole album is trotting on new ground most of the time (for my young and inexperienced ears at least). Together with “Love and Love again” it again has a very “old” feel to it. It sounds timeless, but she does tell on her myspace that she is influenced by music from the early 20th century.

All in all it is a very strong debut, with virtually no weak points in it. It has a great number of highlights with “Summertime”, “Seed of Wonder”, “Silverscreen”, “Money” and “Intelligentactile 101”. A lot of highlights for one little disk. It amazes me how I have only seen such a limited number of reviews of her album on the net. Even Pitchfork does not have a file on her. Maybe because this album is released under the umbrella of a major label. That does not influence my opinion on this great album. I hope to see her live soon at any stage in the Netherlands. She’ll probably win me over completely, like others did before her (PJ Harvey, Sarah Wooden).