When: 7.30pm on Thursday 18 February 2010
Where: The Deaf Institute, 135 Grosvenor Street, Manchester M1 7HE

We’re pleased to be putting on Jesca Hoop, one of Manchester’s brightest hopes for 2010!

Hoop was born in Southern California to strict Mormon parents. She grew up singing traditional folk tunes in four-part harmony, but soon broke away from this background, becoming a homesteader in the wilderness areas of Northern California and Wyoming, and worked in the remote mountains of Arizona with a rehabilitation programme for children.

As a nanny for Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan’s three children, Hoop gained both musical experience and notoriety. Waits said of Hoop, ‘Her music is like going swimming in a lake at night‘. Her contact with Waits led to her initial exposure, through Nic Harcourt at the Southern California radio station KCRW in 2003. Seed of Wonder became a fixture in KCRW’s top five requests for eight weeks straight – a station record.

In 2007, the Los Angeles Times announced Hoop as one of California’s most notable artists. Later the same year, she toured with Polyphonic Spree. In 2008, meanwhile, she supported Mark Knopfler on tour, and in 2009 she shared a bill with Andrew Bird and Elbow – with Guy Garvey also dueting with Hoop on her latest album Hunting My Dress.

‘Hunting My Dress confirms her as one of alternative folk-pop’s most arresting recent arrivals, singing like an outcast angel and writing like a restless explorer’ – The Sunday Times

‘A sensual, eccentric and often frankly odd-sounding record, Hunting My Dress exudes oodles of charisma and originality, thanks mostly to Hoop’s delightfully freaky take on traditional folk convention‘ – BBC Music

‘There’s a thin line between genuine eccentricity and precious affectation of weirdness, but Jesca Hoop walks it well’ – The Guardian

Support for this show comes from Manchester’s own Jo Rose.

Tickets are available from the bar, Piccadilly Records, www.ticketline.co.uk and on 0161 832 1111.