The multi-platinum success of The Hoosiers 2007 debut album, “The Trick to Life”, and singles such as “Worried About Ray” and “Goodbye Mr. A”, raised huge expectations for its follow-up, not least at The Hoosiers’ record label. The prophetically titled “The Illusion of Safety” was, all the band agree, a troubled project from the start.

Irwin suggests, “The word ‘hit’ is substituted for ‘good’. There’s an art to writing under those conditions, but it wasn’t one that worked for us. It exacts a toll on too many writers. You give up too much if you do that.”

Such a negative experience of the creative process – the odd laugh aside – would have done for many bands, and there was indeed a period where The Hoosiers went their separate ways. “I remember getting to this point,” says Al, “where I said, ‘I need some space from this’. I think we all knew it. We needed to forget about it for a while.”

“The News From Nowhere”, released in 2014, was an astonishing return to form. “Doing it on our own terms,” says Irwin, “and actually having a proper say in it, felt wonderful. We had nothing to lose, but a lot to prove.”

Shattering their previous run of an album every three to four years, 2015's "The Secret Service" – only a year after their third album – reveals a band hitting their stride through a purple patch; improving as they discover they have more to say than ever.

Tension, creativity, democracy, arguments, time apart, coming back together, and then songs. Lots of them. Gone is the self-consciousness of the dog days around their second album; gone, too, the self-doubt. In their place is a deeply rooted – and hard-won – confidence, and a determination to lock back in to the freedom and joy of the early day

Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas return with their sophomore album “Telephone // Telefono,” their first full-length bilingual recording to be released in both English and Spanish language versions.

A second generation Cuban and Mexican-American, Jessica felt it her duty to further explore her own Hispanic heritage on the band's sophomore recording. She knew songs written and recorded in English required more than simply translation – a full rethink was needed to truly give them equivalent poetry and power in her second language. She pushed herself to use Spanish in ways she had never previously attempted, rewriting the songs with the invaluable aid of her mates in Mexico City to better suit the new lyrics and vocal style. Jessica even spent two full weeks speaking exclusively in Spanish, singing for hours in a friend’s studio to create a kind of muscle memory.

Intensely personal and undeniably provocative, “Telephone // Telefono” is a milestone achievement for the band who are upping the ante on their one-of-a-kind soundclash of Goth pop, Latin rock, psychedelic surf, punk cabaret, dirty dancehall, and bold balladry, a voracious approach made uniquely their own through Jessica's astonishing vocal power and The Deltas’ own boundless versatility. The new songs see The Deltas’ brand of Motor City magic taken to the max while their Spanish counterparts unveil fresh meanings and emotive power. The result is a genuinely unprecedented work of remarkable duality and impossible-to-ignore relevance. 

In 2014, Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas released their debut “Secret Evil" and spent two years on the road; countless headline gigs, supports with such like-minded acts as Gogol Bordello, Social Distortion and St. Paul & The Broken Bones, and well-received sets at festivals like Lollapalooza, ACL Music Festival, Osheaga, and Bonnaroo. Jessica was intensely productive throughout the non-stop tour, somehow finding time to get married while also writing and readying the band’s next album. The Deltas reconvened in their native Michigan for sessions in early 2016, capturing all the fire, excitement, and band unity gained by their almost nightly performances.

Long hailed as an explosive and theatrical live outfit, Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas will celebrate “Telephone // Telefono” with a non-stop North American tour schedule, highlighted by headline dates, radio shows, festival appearances, and more. 

Telephone and Telefono will be released on June 23rd, and are available for presale now - http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/jessicahernandez.

http://jessicahernandez.net

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