Joan As Police Woman
The Deep Field

Joan Wasser, alias Joan as Police Woman, returns in great style. Her music, a fusion of black and singer-songwriter music, has never been as radiant as in this album. A spring-summer record, with uterine energy and a sound meticulously crafted (Wasser mentioned being inspired by Marvin Gaye’s sound for this album). A prime example of all this is the first single released: “The Magic” is an overwhelming, catchy, and excellently played track. If we lived in a normal world, it would have become a top-selling single, but since the ears of the average listener have become accustomed to the dance crap shoved at us by pop-bitches, it wasn’t so.

The album is filled with gems, the opener “Nervous” is a rock track, one to listen to at full volume and get carried away by. There are also more “groovy” episodes (if you'll excuse the term) like the aforementioned “The Magic,” “Human Condition,” and “Chemmie.” There is no filler, no track that breaks the spell of this album. Each track opens a new discussion that seems to be as interesting as the previous one. Notable mentions are definitely “The Action Man” and “Run for Love,” which are a typical example of what Joan's music is: warm atmospheres (the saxophone helps a lot in this regard), a crystalline and enveloping voice, and an innate ability to extract melodies capable of letting you into the soul of this artist. Every time I listen to “The Action Man,” I feel like I'm being transported into a warm summer night, sensual and magical. There are also a couple of ballads; and if in “Flash” our darker side emerges with a guitar, a whisper of a voice, and male choirs creating a dark and unsettling mood, in “Forever and a Year” we are taken by the melancholy of an autumn day. Closing the record, we find a piece dedicated to the story of Joan of Arc (“I Was Everyone”), another piece with a compelling crescendo, with a perfect combination of keyboards, guitars, and brass.

With this album, the policewoman seems to have finally found the alchemy to fully develop her pieces' potential. Not surprisingly, all the tracks are relatively long (only 3 tracks under 5 minutes). The plots are perfectly developed, and the lyrics are sharp, striking directly at the heart and stomach. I am really curious to hear the album that this great contemporary artist is recording with David Sylvian.

(The rating would have been 4.5, but I didn’t round up because I believe this artist’s absolute masterpiece will come in the coming years).