The Deep Field

Joan As Police Woman’s most open and joyous record

The forty year old Joan Wasser is a talented artist who started her career as a violinist in the Boston University Symphony Orchestra and later in Dambuilders, which disbanded in 1997. Besides violin she plays guitar, writes and performs songs. The first album written almost entirely by Joan was devoted to her tragically drowned beloved, the musician Jeff Buckley, and recorded with his band mates but remained unreleased. That recording and the following work with Antony And The Johnsons got the singer back to life, and she created her trio Joan As Police Woman together with Rainy Orteca playing bass guitar and drummer Ben Perowsky. After her significant contribution to Antony And The Johnsons’ breakthrough album I Am A Bird Now the musicians of Joan As Police Woman started working on their stylish debut album Real Life released in 2006. Two years later Joan demonstrated her vulnerability on the second album To Survive, and this winter Joan As Police Woman releases its third creation The Deep Field, which, according to the singer herself, is her most open and joyous record to date.

The Deep Field, ten long pulsating compositions

As part of the trio Joan As Police Woman Wasser plays keyboards and guitar, works on the arrangements of the songs she writes and of course performs the soulful and emotional vocal parts. The second work was recorded with drummer Parker Kindred from Jeff Buckley’s band, and after its release musician and producer Timo Ellis replaced Rainy Orteca on bass guitar so on the third album Joan is the only band member left from the initial line-up. These changes have brought a new atmosphere to her music – the album The Deep Field offers ten long pulsating compositions in which the theme of love is interlaced with different life stories. The album opens with the passionately gentle song Nervous about wanting to be loved, at the beginning of which the listener seems to get into a club waiting for the trio to perform. A great stylish track The Magic continues this mood but in a more sophisticated key, whereas a bit more melancholic number The Action Man is refined with a magnificent variety of sounds from tube to a helicopter’s noise. The longest composition Flash, lasting a bit less than eight minutes slows the pace down and conquers with the low notes in Joan’s voice, very interesting backing vocals and a somewhat exotic atmosphere on the whole. A very beautiful romantic number Kiss The Specifics takes the listeners up in heaven due to the ethereal sounding of voice and instruments, and Chemmie gets them back down to earth telling of a strong passion. Splendid, old The Muse-like arpeggios make the mesmerizing ballad Forever And A Year one of the album’s highlights, and the closer is a wonderful song I Was Everyone with quite an impressive climax.

The most successful line-up

The soul of the 1960s, the turn of the centuries’ indie rock, complicated tunes worthy of jazz numbers – all of these elements are presented in a delicious mixture on the album The Deep Field. No doubt the trio Joan As Police Woman creates music which proves interesting and smart every time without ever repeating itself or being predictable. Today Joan Wasser is an experienced composer, who not only is an expert of the music culture of her time but also a contributor to it. Thus, she once made the violin an attribute of rock music besides being that of classic, and today she is adopting the winds the same way writing wonderful keyboards parts and makes her guitar sing along. Perhaps, the album The Deep Field can be called the first one to render at least partially the impression the concerts of Joan As Police Woman always leave as they are known for being very emotional. Joan has never suffered from fear of stage, and one can make sure how powerfully and broadly she can express herself listening to The Deep Field on which there are almost no calm piano ballads but a great deal of passion. Hopefully the line-up of Joan As Police Woman is not about to change in the nearest future because it has really proved to be the most successful one as well as the album The Deep Field in this wonderful band’s discography.