Acclaimed American singer-songwriter Jesca Hoop releases her new album, Stonechild, on 5 July – and she’s giving Oh Comely readers a sneak preview with an exclusive live recording of her mesmerising track Outside of Eden.

Featuring Kate Stables from This is the Kit as well as Jesca’s nephew Justis on vocals, the track is the folkiest offering on her forthcoming release – featuring her trademark finger-plucked guitar. 

The song represents one of Jesca’s biggest concerns: the effect of technology on young people and their increasing reliance on electronic devices. On the track, she sings: “Come shut in boys for the girlfriend experience, enter the code and I’ll taste real”.

Watch it here.

Stonechild is Californian-born Jesca’s fifth release and also features the talents of Rozi Plain and Lucius. The album title was inspired by a trip to a Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum, where the Stonechild is a sad display of an unborn foetus carried by a woman for over 30 years. “They become a hard ball of bones, a rock,” Jesca explains. “Phonetically, it's a beautiful sounding word – hard and soft – but also, I am taken by the idea of carrying something for a long time, perhaps in secret and then giving it up. I hope I have made an album of substance.”

Despite living in Manchester for more than a decade, Jesca normally records her music back in the States. This time, however, the recording took place in Bristol alongside renowned producer John Parish – best known for his work with PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding and This is the Kit . “It was time to step out of my comfort zone, my safe place,” she says. 

“Parish was a gentle collaborator – until he killed one of my darlings! I’ve never been so brutally edited, and I wasn’t shy about expressing my discomfort at the sight of my work on the cutting room floor… In some way, I think I actually enjoyed that treatment – being stripped back to the bare basics, albeit painfully.”

Jesca will be playing at a host of festivals in the UK and Europe over the summer, while she’s set to tour the UK in October. You can also read a full interview with her in our late summer issue.

Stonechild is released on Memphis Industries on 5 July. Her UK tour dates are:

01 Oct – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club

02 Oct – Bristol, Fiddlers

03 Oct – Manchester, HOME

04 Oct – London, Barbican

05 Oct – Cambridge, Storey's Field Centre

07 Oct – Gateshead, Sage

08 Oct – Liverpool, Leaf

09 Oct – Dublin, Soundhouse

11 Oct – Glasgow, Oran Mor

12 Oct – Edinburgh, Pleasance Theatre

13 Oct – Birmingham, Hare & Hounds

31 Oct – Oxford, The Bullingdon