From the moment Sonic Youth took Erase Errata under their wing as openers on a US tour, it was apparent that they were not just another riot grrrl group from the Pacific Northwest. As four women in a band whose music has been described as experimental, noisy yet danceable punk, they challenged stereotypes of what an all-female band from this region could sound like.
band photo
On Erase Errata's 'Nightlife' (2006), the political commentary on the Iraq war and criticism of the Bush administration in jams like "Tax Dollar" spotlighted Jenny Hoyston as a lyricist and activist. Equal parts Patti Smith and Robert Pollard, Jenny has a knack for quipping intelligent, spur-of-the-moment pop songs while staying politically outspoken. She is without a doubt a defining female artist of our time.
In the winter of 2006, Jenny teamed up
with William Elliot Whitmore to explore her country roots on the duets EP 'Hallways Of Always'. Like Whitmore, she too had been exposed to country music at an early age. And despite her upbringing in Texas, she managed to break free from the conservative bible-belt mentality of the Lone Star state (Austin notwithstanding). She went to Michigan for college and later moved to San Francisco, where she currently resides. She maintains an art/living space at a warehouse called The Cave, where some of 'Isle Of' was recorded. She also spins DJ sets and runs sound at a local bar called El Rio.
When guitarist Sara Jaffe left Erase Errata in 2005 to pursue grad school, Jenny picked up the slack by playing guitar as well as singing. As the frontperson and trumpeter for the band, Jenny still managed to release two full-lengths by her side project Paradise Island: 'Lines Are Infinitely Fine' (2003) and 'Getup' EP(2001), both on Dim Mak. In November 2005, she recorded a Latitudes series) session at Southern Studios in London that came out as a limited edition EP called 'Seeing Spots'.
The Latitudes release focused less on the jumbled beats and hazy production that distinguished her other Paradise Island offerings, and highlighted her songwriting. There was next to no publicity on this release, but it sold well just on word-of-mouth. Aquarius Records in San Francisco loved it, and had this to say: “The second we put this on we knew we had a new favorite Summer song! "Motions" has this amazing urgency, simplicity, power and passion that has seeped right down into our souls."
This new direction of more revealing songwriting led Jenny to record the tracks that would become her first full-length, 'Isle Of' (2007). In much the same fashion, she wrestled with calling her project Jenny Hoyston's Paradise Island, deciding in the end to simply use her name. On 'Isle Of' she covers more territory than on any of her previous projects. A portion of the songs were recorded in Detroit with Colin Dupruis, who recorded Erase Errata's 'Other Animals' and has also worked with acts such as White Stripes, Eminem and D12. These songs have a Detroit garage rock sound. She eschews any temptation to rehash blues riffs and instead is possessed by a Joan Jett attitude. "Everyone's Alone" was recorded in Portland with Christina Files (Mary Timony, Shannon Wright), who produced the track as well as playing electronic drums. It wouldn't be out of place next to a Le Tigre or a Tracy And The Plastics song. The rest of the album is a mix of stripped down one to two-minute pop song skeletons, recalling the cuddle-core pop of the now-defunct Simple Machines label.
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