Biography

Over the last ten years Jacko Hooper has collaborated, performed and released records with artists such as Bastille, Michael Kiwanuka, Chet Faker, James Bay, Kiefer Sutherland, James Blunt, Passenger, Freya Ridings, Bess Atwell and many, many more. Having founded Brighton-based promotions company Folklore Sessions and as of 2021, music venue The Folklore Rooms, the time has come for Hooper to release his own full-length album. This is Respair. The world changed in 2020 but due to other events in Hooper’s life he found himself in the midst of a mental health crisis that left him in a situation where he had to re-learn how to live his life in a normal way. The fallout of this experience left him needing to document it’s story in the form of this record, to be able to truly move beyond that experience he needed to capture it, to feel it in it’s entirety and come out the other side. Hooper has never shied away from speaking of mental health issues but none of them hit quite the same however, as Respair. Featuring some of his closest friends and peers the record features Harry Fausing Smith (Tom Misch) on strings and saxophone, Chris Matthewson (Bess Atwell) a duet with Edie Bens (Glassnote Records) and was mixed by lifelong friend and collaborator Josh Trinnaman of Luo. (Whose mixing credits include Ry X, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds amongst others). Other notable contributions include Rebecca Brandler on vocals, Joe Hall on drums and Tommy Peach on trumpet.