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Rating: Brushstrokes of aqua green, sea blue, and white like the sand. It's not that I've ever particularly loved pastel colors and their shades of gray and white, but Joan Wasser, known artistically as Joan As Police Woman, paints and sings her debut so well that it makes you want to dip your hands in it and color your face, arms, and body with its brightest tones. She tries to get you 'dirty' with her 'Real Life', playing at transforming every melody into a soap bubble. Glossy, sparkling, and languid. She immerses herself in it with authentic sincerity, and you find yourself unable to help but melt in this 'bath' of emotions.
Joan's is a story made of small steps. In love with music since she was very young, she pursued classical studies, specializing in piano and violin. While also cultivating her adolescent passions for punk, rock, and soul, she found herself playing in various indie-rock bands throughout the early '90s, closely following the man who was her boyfriend at the time: Mr. Jeff Buckley. The grief over the death of the American artist profoundly marked her evolution as a woman. Many shades of this 'Real Life' still carry his scent. He is also in here. In her voice. In her thoughts. This self-proclaimed policewoman's very first studio album arrived only in 2006 after countless collaborations with a wide variety of artists on the international scene: Antony Hegarty (Antony and the Johnsons), Rufus Wainwright, Scissor Sisters, Dave Gahan, Sheryl Crow, Nick Cave. And when it arrives, it leaves a mark.
Authentic, honest, delicate. Almost whispered in its most intimate and profound soul, it unfolds in 10 languid, soft, and touching songs.
It starts with the title-track 'Real Life', all Joan and piano, almost a prayer for the intimacy with which it is sung, to continue with the wonderful 'Eternal Flame' that enchants heart and mind with its radiant brightness. Following is 'I Defy' in which Joan duets with the androgynous Antony Hegarty in a piece with sweet and seductive melodies, and 'Flushed Chest', incredibly catchy and captivating. The arrangements are essential and never trivial, tending towards a pop that is sophisticatedly emotional. Violin, winds, strings, and piano take the lead for a voice that doesn’t need to shout its sensations because it knows how to sing them softly, under the skin, as in the beautiful 'Save Me' and 'Anyone'. 'Real Life' and its policewoman seem to come from nowhere or, as she herself says, 'From the wind that stirs the trees in the forest.' Natural and calm forces.
Intimate and elegant, it is an album trusting in love and loss, speaking with sincerity still tinged with anger. It is an album about growing up and becoming adults, about being real and rediscovering concreteness in the face of life's disappointments and difficulties. It is an album in which we can find much in the composition and contribution from her 'masters'; Antony and Joseph Arthur, from her female idols; Nina Simone and Joni Mitchell, but also from her dearest affections; Elliott Smith, to whom 'We Don't Own It' is dedicated—a dreamy song closing the album, never falling into the repetitive or banal. A special mention goes to the intriguing 'Christobel', the only track with more marked and sustained rhythms where we can distinctly hear guitar and drums playing at sending distant calls to decidedly more rock musical pasts.
Beautiful, sulky, and seductive with a unique voice and timbre. It will take no time at all to capture you with its simple way of being. Lend it your heart; it might accelerate the beats for a love never entirely extinguished.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Eternal Flame (03:39)
i wanna have it
yes yes
i wanna have you now
but i can't be the lighter
i can't be the lighter
i wanna go there
yes yes
i wanna show you how
but i can't be the lighter
i can't be the lighter
just in case you never knew
i can't be the lighter
of your eternal flame
oh! oceans, rivers, lakes
that we could swim as two
but i already own my
own body of water
you'll follow me and
yes, yes
i'll follow you,
it's true
but i'm already certain
i've got good directions
just in case you never knew
i won't be becoming
i am the beginning
and i'm already
done
these yes days,
they've come and gone
not always going to make
the same mistakes
it's too simple, i saw the truth
and truth is the terror of the one
who feels their lace can be stained
but i cannot stain your white lace, baby
even you cannot stain your white lace baby
no
i'll never go there
no no
i'll never take that route
'cause i won't be the fighter
i won' t be the fighter
don't ever push me
no, no, don't ever make me shoot
'cause i won't be the fighter
i won't be the fighter
just in case you never knew
i won't be the fighter
for your eternal flame
just in case you never knew
i won't be becoming
i am the beginning
and i'm already
done
just in case you never knew
i can't be the lighter
of your eternal flame
04 The Ride (03:09)
Starting now the wait is over
As long as you jump the ride
‘Cause I won't highway-walk forever
As long as you jump the ride
As long as you follow me
This is what I do, like I do
I've been on the ride before
It never stops at all
It never stops at all
You'll start your engines like a virgin
As long as you jump the ride
We'll cut the whip and lose the anchor
As long as you jump the ride
As long as you follow me
This is what I do, like I do
I've been on the ride before
It never stops at all
It never stops at all
As long as you follow me
This is what I do, like I do
I've been on the ride before
It never stops at all
It never stops at all
Don't you feel for us
That we're on the round and round?
Don't you hear
The endless motor sound?
As long as you follow me
This is what I do, like I do
I've been on the ride before
It never stops at all
It never stops at all
It never stops at all
05 I Defy (03:32)
I defy I love your way
How could it be different
I defy I love your way
(well) how could it be different
Now I'm kissing the real you
Now I'm kissing the real you
Will I get through my dark day
Can you hear me
Can you hear me
Ooh oh ooh oh ooh oh ooh oh
How could it be different
I see the stars around your face
They never seem to hurt at all
The stars around your face
They never seem to hurt at all
Now I'm missing the real you
Now I'm missing the real you
Well, I got through my dark day
Did you fear me
Did you fear for me
Ooh oh ooh oh ooh oh ooh oh
How could it be different
I don't want to see my baby fall
It's the dawn I feel becoming ever after
This is my matter, dear
I defy I love your way
How could it be different
I defy, I love your way
How could it be different
Well I got to know you today
And I adore you
I adore you
Oh now I'm loving you
Oh now I'm loving you
How could it be different
Oh now I'm loving you
Oh now I'm loving you
How could it be different
06 Flushed Chest (03:55)
I saw you tonight
Through the dim twilight
It was deep deep summer
With that yellow moon
And you were sleeping
I saw you tonight
You were in your ghost
Singing white Christmas
How you know
It's before me
It's your song
So divine
Dying time
Is a part
Of your laughter
I saw you today
Selling all your clothes
You were done with Hollywood
The waterfall was rushing
Through you
I saw you today
Run away finally
Coastal envy got you
And we got you
Blazing
It's your song
So divine
It was time
For the spread
Of your laughter
Greet me with flushed chest again
Morning bird I’ll wait for you
How could I not
How could I not
Greet me with flushed chest again
Morning bird I’ll wait for you
How could I not
How could I not
I saw you the morning
The early green
Took the back seat
And cream the dream is you
Has begun
I saw you so early
In the whisky dark
Your eyes were brightest black
You were not going back
It was your living
It's your song
From the past
It was back
For the start
Of your laughter
Greet me with flushed chest again
Morning bird I’ll wait for you
How could I not
How could I not
Greet me with flushed chest again
Morning bird I’ll wait for you
How could I not
How could I not
07 Christobel (03:06)
When the moment arrives
You know I will be waiting
Kicking into survival
The seas of life divide
It might seem to appear
That I am dead already
I left it all on the ground
At your feet
Yes
Christobel (gone away)
Christobel (gone away)
Why won''t you just fall in love
With me?
Christobel (gone away)
Let the temperature rise
The birds of prey are mating
And with you by my side
The instinct is alive
It might seem to appear
That I am dead already
I left all at your feet
On the ground
Before I died
Yes
Christobel (gone away)
Christobel (gone away)
Why won''t you just fall in love
With me?
Christobel (gone away)
Yes
Christobel (gone away)
Christobel (gone away)
Why won''t you just fall in love
With me
Christobel (gone away)
09 Anyone (04:50)
I won't cry
Anyone would rather
Shift their eyes
Than open up their leather
But you, you seem to be the one
So try me please
I'm a better dancer
Than it seems
The lightest floating feather
Is how I feel when I’m with you
So now that I know you
I'm ready to show you
How good I feel
'Cause anyone can see through me
But you're not anyone
Blaring car horns howl
Through feedback from this city
But I don't hear it now,
The chaos that surrounds me
No, you, you hold my mind's desire
You give me shelter
From all that's done un-pretty
My sold-out, felt-up
Retreated little secrets
Are tucked inside the warmth of you
So now that I know you
I'm ready to show you
How good I feel
'Cause anyone can see through me
But you're not anyone
It's been a long time a long time
I've walked alone, I’ve warmed to it
But now I slip right in
I'm ready to start to be ready
So hold me now
You who came in pieces
'Cause I like whole pies
Underdone a little
But I feel how you burn inside
So now that I know you
I'm so ready to show you
How good I feel
'Cause anyone can see through me
But you're not anyone
Anyone can see through me
But you're not anyone
Anyone can see through me
But you're not anyone
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