Review Music: Joan as Policewoman | Scala | Joan Wasser demonstrated why she is a class act who has been overlooked for far too long. Joan Wasser

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Published: 19 June 2008

Joan Wasser

Camden Music Preview | Joan as Policewoman | Scala | Joan Wasser | New album To Survive

PREVIEW: JOAN AS POLICEWOMAN
Scala

SHE randomly rabbited on about roller coasters, made baaah-ing lamb noises and moaned about the lack of animation of people from Birmingham in between the songs – but when she finally got down to business, Joan Wasser demonstrated why she is a class act who has been overlooked for far too long.
A clear-as-day voice and adept on keys and guitar, she haunted the Scala with her sublime, experimental mix found here in Joan As Policewoman mode, effectively the title of Wasser’s stripped-down band (just a drummer, bassist and her).
After a career impressing in collaborations, it has taken a while to make it in her own right but it has been worth the wait. And more than once there was an echo of Nina Simone sounding through the room. To think this is a kooky thirty-something white woman who matured in a different world from Simone, it’s a flattering comparison and more than deserved.
Tunes from new album To Survive sound as fresh as the ones from her first. Ride, a case law lesson in how to do “chill-out” music, brought the chatterboxes at the back to a hush, while the contrast between the tranquil To Be Lonely and the rockier To Be Loved could only be admired.
Sometimes Wasser might have been better keeping things simple. Good grooves at times suddenly warp into some spirited, and not always welcome, chanting that risked becoming wail.
Wasser wants to push the envelope so much that you can’t always tell where each song is headed.
That’s no bad thing but it is a little disorientating.
When you work out her puzzles, however, the rewards are sweet.
RICHARD OSLEY

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