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NPR Music

Sam Beam & Jesca Hoop: Tiny Desk Concert

By Stephen Thompson
Published June 6, 2016 at 2:00 PM EDT
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Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop visited NPR's offices on what may well be 2016's most beautiful day so far: perfectly warm and sunny, uncharacteristically dry, and perfect for lounging happily on the roof deck just around the corner from the Tiny Desk. Hoop and Beam did just that, hanging out amiably for hours after their show ended, as part of one of the most comfortable and relaxing days in the history of NPR Music.

The music itself was gorgeous to match, as the two performed three songs from their new collaborative record, Love Letters For Fire. If you haven't yet heard it, the album's sound fits right where you'd hope it would: between the inventive hookiness of Hoop's terrific solo work and the more somber ruminations of the work Beam makes at the head of Iron & Wine. Weeks later, watching their performance is like recapturing a little slice of that spring day, just when we need it most.

Love Letters For Fire is available now. (iTunes) (Amazon)

Set List

  • "Sailor To Siren"

  • "Know The Wild That Wants You"

  • "Every Songbird Says"

    • Credits

    Producers: Bob Boilen, Niki Walker; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Niki Walker, Kara Frame; Production Assistant: Jackson Sinnenberg; Photo: Brandon Chew/NPR.

    For more Tiny Desk concerts, subscribe to our podcast.

    Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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    Stephen Thompson
    Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)
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