On my stereo this week: ‘Flushed Chest’ by Joan As Police Woman.

In 2006, the former classically trained punk violinist, Joan As Policewoman aka Joan Wasser, released her now classic album Real Life. Easy-going, soulful, blended with jazzy piano and strings with elements of trip hop to boot, it’s the near-perfect debut you’ll ever get to hear. Her breathy, expressive vocals from her track The Ride still instantly warms my heart every time I listen to it. 

I once interviewed Wasser in the middle of promoting her sixth full-length album Damned Devotion in 2019. Back then I asked her if she would indulge me for a brief moment about Real Life. I asked her what she thought it was about the album and those collection of songs as to why fans still love it so much? She said, “I feel like it’s probably because I had lived 36 years before I released that record and had a lot to say at that point, having never released a solo record previously. My focus for that recording was to make an album that sounded like the classic Al Green records. It was a great format to follow.”

It took me by surprise to read the veteran musician was re-releasing Real Life as an reimagined new album called Real Life Evolution. Every song from her debut evidently gets a new arrangement. I’m told some are subtle and other epic in scope. Take for instance, The Ride. Gone is the ethereal intimacy of the electronic piano and strings in favour of the stripped back Spanish-influenced guitar. Eternal Flame also takes shape in the form of a stripped-back feel, empathising a more minimalist performance rather than the moody studio version. And while Flushed Chest repetitive piano riff still dominates the new version, Wasser’s has swapped out her original violin and saxophone instrumentation in favour of her collaboration with guitarist Will Graefe and drummer Jeremy Gustin. These three songs are just a taste of what we can except to hear across the rest of the album (out next month June 12) apparently honed throughout stretches of countless live performances over the years. An A-list of who’s who in Wasser’s world have also helped her reawaken the joy of these songs. They include the likes of American singer-songwriter Krystle Warren and Iggy Pop who is featured on the song Save Me. I can’t wait to hear how that plays out! (Fun fact: Wasser is a regular member of Iggy Pop’s touring band, holding down keys and backing vocals.)

I’ve previously talked about my love for The Ride which was the catalyst for my admiration for Wasser. You can read about it HERE. For now I hope you might join me and take a listen to Wasser’s newly reimagined version of Flushed Chest which features an exciting three-part improvised harmony. Wasser recently said she wrote Flushed Chest while reflecting on the 1991 backward-chronological novel “Time’s Arrow” by Martin Amis. (Lyrically, the song is about the vulnerability of love.) Moreover, she said the tracks groove is heavily inspired by her intense period where she was listening to nothing but The Wailers (the remnants of Bob Marley’s backing band of the same name). If anything, I especially love Wasser’s vocals on Flushed Chest. Her blend of soulful warmth and melancholy is something which keeps me coming back to her. Enjoy.