Play It Again Sam (label)
17 January 2011 (released)
22 January 2011
Joan Wasser has a reputation for music that is uncompromising and deeply personal – it is also richly rewarding.
Her previous album searched her feelings at the loss of her mother but this is altogether more upbeat and sounds as though she is celebrating life and all its variety – the cover shows her either in the throes of passion or embracing the world.
From the opening track ‘Nervous’ the rhythms are bouncy and lively with plenty of keyboard fills and choppy guitar work while ‘The Magic’, the first single off the album, has a bubbly feel even though the subject matter is craziness and worry.
She has a voice that suits the emotional and balladic material perfectly and she is at her best on numbers like ‘Action Man’ where she matches the flow of the music and seems almost to be another instrument in the song.
‘Kiss The Specifics’ has a wonderfully jazzy feel to it, very reminiscent to her first album but ‘Flash’ for me is the most impressive number with all sorts of subtle meanderings and a hypnotic beat that will be a killer live ( She plays the Barbican in February).
Joan As Policewoman is not for everyone, there really is too much depth and cleverness for most but repeated listening tends to give up the subtleties she has in her songs.
Her voice is not the weapon some others can boast but she crafts her songs around it and the end result is really fine listening.
