With her seventh solo album, Jesca Hoop finally takes the leap to the producer’s chair. It is a move inspired by the independence of her hero, Joni Mitchell, who has played a prominent role in Hoop’s recent creative processes as last year she toured with Lail Arad and This Is The Kit’s Kate Stables to perform a set of Mitchell songs. What emerges on ‘Long Wave Home’ is the realisation of how well Hoop understands her own songs should sound. Among the ten tracks, there are so many impressive touches and surprises within the context of a sound that could be broadly categorised as indie-folk-pop. The songs dip between the outright political and the more personal, although Hoop argues that all the tracks are love songs but simultaneously protest tunes.
‘Long Wave Home’ starts introspectively with ‘Adam’. Finger-picking guitar is joined by clarinet and later harp, Hoop’s voice sounding unusually throaty is accompanied by bursts of angelic backing vocals as she warns of one-way roads in relationships, ending with the defiant, “don’t try my patience / I’m all out of patience.” Coming from a slightly different angle, ‘Now The Ash’ has an acceptance that sometimes relationships have a limited duration and concludes, “therefore don’t fear love.” The logic of its conclusion is matched by the song’s precision, a rhythm based around three-word lines, interspersed with moments of horn embellishment.
The first of the clearly political tracks ‘Designer Citizen’ sees Hoop, California-raised but a long-term Manchester resident, looking at the fascist takeover of America with horror. There is an urgency to the almost martial drum peels of the repetitive chorus (“what we doin x 4 / changing the world”) and a caustic dismissal of the stupidity of its adherents (“look at me I’m Merican / Marching like an Erryan / Got em running scurred again / Sending State to church again.”) Written in a couple of days rather than the month it normally takes her to complete a song, ‘Playground’ reacts to the atrocities being committed against the children of Gaza and the consequences of cycles of violence. Musically, it has a different mood with fiddles, strings and percussion creating a Middle Eastern-flavoured drone. ‘Signal To Noise’ reflects on how social media misdirects and desensitises, thus making an American revolution less likely. The vocals are delivered in a near singsong whisper but which makes the accusation clearer (“if revolution can be sparked by a feeling / turn up the system point the finger leave them reeling”) while the music and rhythms shift constantly in a very ordered chaos.
‘Big Storm’ is more autobiographical, telling of selling her belongings, buying a plane ticket but having her plans of moving away disrupted by a storm, the moral being that there is no easy means of escape but that she must retain sole responsibility for her own happiness. The theme is mirrored by the mobile rhythm, trombone burbling away in the background. The song exemplifies the record’s excellent use of backing vocals from Chloe Foy and Rachel Rimmer, on this occasion creating a bluesy howl. In contrast, ‘Love Is Salvation’ oozes calm. A song about loyalty, its gentle guitar-picking and melody is enhanced by small brass swells and piano tinkles but there is a certainty to its assertion “if they left you high and dry / I say fuck em all.” With its beguiling melody, ‘Caravan’ captures the deception of promises and a naivety in dreams, the use of fiddles hinting at the woe to come.
‘Viv Over Drink’ is a cautionary tale about alcoholism and its impact on those around the alcoholic; again, it is vocally understated, initially to banjo backing, then horns add extra textures. Throughout, the brass is used in this subtle manner rather than the piercing or rousing manner more often associated with such instruments. ‘Long Wave Home’ concludes with its title track, in mood and structure verging on soft but experimental jazz. It is piece searching for connection and wholeness within the modern world’s tumult. A clarinet provides richly pleasing melody lines and makes for a dreamy ending.
What is striking about ‘Long Wave Home’ is its quiet almost steely confidence that does not preclude admissions of vulnerability. The lyrics cover a range from political urgency to the personal with impressive clarity. There is so much innovation in the arrangements, a multitude of tiny details to enjoy, all put together with precision to make an album that will constantly reveal new delights.
Jesca Hoop: Long Wave Home – Out 1 May 2026 (Last Laugh)
I was editor of the long-running fanzine, Plane Truth, and have subsequently written for a number of publications. While the zine was known for championing the most angular independent sounds, performing in recent years with a community samba percussion band helped to broaden my tastes so that in 2021 I am far more likely to be celebrating an eclectic mix of sounds and enthusing about Made Kuti, Anthony Joseph, Little Simz and the Soul Jazz Cuban compilations as well as Pom Poko and Richard Dawson.
