HANNAH JADAGU

Barely out of high school, Hannah Jadagu moved from Texas to New York to study music. Around this time, she was also working on her debut EP, "What Is Going On," which she recorded on her iPhone. However, her unconventional approach to making music and instinctive ability to write memorable hooks belies the intensity of the subject matter. In 16 minutes, her compassionate perspective confronted listeners with some of the nation's most pressing struggles. The renowned Sub Pop label signed her and also released her first album, "Aperture," this year. On it, Jadagu continues to address these issues, "Where I grew up, everyone is Christian. Even if you don't go to church, you're still a believer in some way." Moving from her small hometown, she says, got her thinking about how entrenched Christianity is in the culture there and what actually makes the country tick. "Aperture" refers to the aperture of a camera, a hole, a gap, a mechanism through which light passes, allowing the person taking the picture to immortalize a moment in time. For Jadagu, the word perfectly sums up the mood of her debut album. In the years it took her to complete the album, there were certainly dark moments, but the process of making it, her first time in a professional studio, was ultimately a cathartic experience that she now shares with us. And just as light can always look and feel different, so is the music on this record. Somewhere between bedroom pop, college rock, R'n'B and indie, Jadagu sings about America today. While her EP contained a lot of reverb, making her vocals seem shy, she took what she calls a more intimate, closer, but also more variable approach when recording for the LP. Hannah Jadagu lets the light in, live with us next March. - Aperture Tour