Jesca Hoop grew up in Sonoma County in Northern California. One of five children in a strict Mormon household, she was born into a family of singers, who "from the age of walking were singing before we were talking."
Jesca, with her father (a folk singer), her mother (a classical singer), and her siblings formed a family choir that performed together for the church folk. Jesca also performed in her high school choir. In her early adolescence, friends began to introduce her to all different styles and genres of music, whereas before she only knew her parents' music and the radio.
Hoop ultimately rebelled against her Mormon upbringing, heading for wide-open spaces in Wyoming and Arizona. While separated from civilization, Jesca stripped down her musical knowledge to its raw elements and began to conjure up an original viewpoint. After several years, she decided she missed the stage and moved back to California to start a band.
Now based in Manchester, England, Jesca Hoop's music can seem at once rustic and cosmopolitan, as she draws on everything from chamber music to murder ballads to artists such as Björk. Hoop's music sounds unconventional and densely layered, evoking powerful emotions with complex, abstract lyrics. She has released three critically acclaimed albums, and her newest project due out later in 2014, is called Undress.
