At least temporarily, Jesca Hoop has joined Shearwater. Yes, she opens for the band as a solo artist, but she is also a member of the band through the remainder of the U.S. portion of the “Fellow Travelers Tour” (the complete schedule is pasted below).
As a reminder, Jesca Hoop is the one who made a very positive splash at SXSW last year. For readers of this blog, her song “Born To” was in the Indie Obsessive Top 20 songs of 2013. Last night (February 8) at the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco, Hoop performed her set after Cazadero started the evening in the right direction. Cazadero features four guitars (including the bass) and is based in San Francisco.
During her solo performance, Jesca Hoop was not shy about providing insights into her personality. Sometimes they came as the setup of a song. For example, as a setup for “Hospital (Win Your Love),” Hoop asked whether others shared the childhood wish of having a black eye or broken arm, which would ensure that you would get attention from others. Other insights came as responses to crowd comments. For example, showing that she no longer requires that attention from others, when the usual “We love you!” yell was sounded, her matter of fact response was, “That’s OK, I’ve been up here so many times that I don’t need that.”
"Born To" by Jesca Hoop
We had seen the Shearwater at the Bottom of the Hill during their last visit from Austin, Texas. It was an enjoyable experience, as evidenced by the fact that we wanted to see the band again last night. But with the first visit, the female element to the band was missing, since Kimberly Burke did not make the trip. Jesca Hoop filled the void last night. It was only their third show as a combination, and it will continue to improve as Hoop and Shearwater get more comfortable with her role during different songs.
Another difference from the previous visit to the Bottom of the Hill was the level of engagement with the audience. Frontman Jonathan Meiburg talked for a good amount of time about the level of professionalism of the Hulk Hogan album (we didn’t know there was one). Other members chimed in. The band was enjoying its short stay at the venue, and the crowd was responsive.
“You as You Were” by Shearwater (This is a free download: merely go to the Soundcloud site of the song.)
“Breaking the Yearlings” by Shearwater (Again, this is a free download by going to the Sub Pop site of the Soundcloud embedded below.)
FELLOW TRAVELERS TOUR 2014
Feb 6: Rhythm Room*, Phoenix, AZ
Feb 7: The Echo*, Los Angeles, CA
Feb 8: Bottom of the Hill*, San Francisco, CA
Feb 13: Mississippi Studios*, Portland, OR
Feb 14: Media Club*, Vancouver, BC
Feb 15: The Crocodile*, Seattle, WA
Feb 18: Urban Lounge*, Salt Lake City, UT
Feb 19: Hi Dive*, Denver, CO
Feb 22: The North Door*,Austin, TX
Mar 19: The Earl**, Atlanta, GA
Mar 20:Cat's Cradle Back Room**, Carrboro, NC
Mar 21: Rock and Roll Hotel**, Washington, DC
Mar 22: The Bell House**, Brooklyn, NY
Mar 25: Brighton Music Hall**, Allston, MA
Mar 26: Le Divan Orange**, Montreal, QC
Mar 27: Horseshoe Tavern**, Toronto, ON
Mar 28: Pyramid Scheme**, Grand Rapids, MI
Mar 29: Empty Bottle**, Chicago, IL
Apr 23: Szene, Vienna, Austria
Apr 24: Beatpol, Dresden, Germany
Apr 25: Privatclub, Berlin, Germany
Apr 26: Loppen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Apr 27: Indra, Hamburg, Germany
Apr 28: Bitterzoet, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Apr 29: Botanique, Brussels, Belgium
Apr 30: XOYO, London, England
May 1: Deaf Institute, Manchester, England
May 2: The Fleece, Bristol, England
May 4: Democrazy, Gent, Belgium
May 6: La Flèche d'Or, Paris, France
May 7: Fri-Son, Fribourg, Switzerland
May 8: La Salumeria della Musica, Milan, Italy
May 9: Bogen F, Zurich, Switzerland
* wsg/ Jesca Hoop
** wsg/ Jesca Hoop and Death Vessel
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