JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN
The Gate, Cardiff
Sat 29 June
The enigmatic Joan As Police Woman comes to Cardiff in support of her newly-released career retrospective, Joanthology. The three-CD compilation goes back as far as 2006’s Real Life, Joan Wasser’s debut album under her artist moniker, but not to the early days of The Dambuilders. Back then Wasser was still on violin after years playing in the orchestras of Connecticut and Massachusetts.
It wasn’t until the death of her boyfriend, Jeff Buckley, that Wasser sang and fronted a band, joining some of his bandmates to form Black Beetle. On the phone from New York City, she tells me that those recordings may never see the light of day. “I’ll never say never to anything but that was a growth process – a way to stay alive, for everyone.”
So this is not an album, or tour, covering the formative years, or collaborations with Antony And The Johnsons and Rufus Wainwright. Joanthology is a chance for Wasser to bring together songs that her audience love, alongside songs they may never have heard before, including a compilation of live BBC performances. “People gravitate, they connect really heavily with one record. I wanted to put a smattering of everything on there and be like: here, check this out!”
Wasser’s passion and stage presence shine through the whole project. The release is being heralded by a series of podcasts getting into the story of each album and a six-month solo tour that will see Wasser perform material from the last 13 years. Across those years Wasser has moved between styles, from jazz to pop, and from acoustic to electronic backings. But it’s all music to her and all happening all at once. “I don’t feel time in that linear way, it’s pretty psychedelic.” Which maybe accounts for the duality between her immediacy and timelessness as an artist.
The same contradiction is there in her conversations, brimming with confidence while always questioning if that confidence is well-earned. She’s the sort of artist you want to see up close and personal, alone on stage with it all on show. Or as she would put it, “It could be the worst idea ever!”
words John-Paul Davies
Tickets: £22.50. Info: 029 2048 3344 / www.thegate.org.uk