Joan As Policewoman - To Survive (Album)
File under ‘wine time’.
It’s clear from the outset that Joan As Policewoman (nee Wasser) wants us to love her firstly for her voice and secondly her piano, the same way we did with her classic track Real Life. There’s more than ample opportunity here to try, as this is predominantly low key melodrama with a few twists, sometimes at its best and other times, well just for the sake of it. It’s only five minutes before I’m embracing the warm bass lines offered though, another five and I’m reaching for my own four strings.
It’s still practically Wasser by numbers, not really a bad thing unless the earnest becomes over stretched, something an artist of this caliber doesn’t allow too often. To Survive is a consistent, likeable album alright. Prouder fans would salivate over her punching the ivories and throatily pushing Honor Wishes out in the opening minutes. To Be Lonely is another such song primed for just the right live intimate performance, its slow build revealing a memorable opening verse before trailing away somewhat as lyrics shift from “this is the one” to “I’ll make it through”.
Magpies is where the band freely unleashes, complete with soul oriented male backing vocals on a track inserted right at this very moment to bolster the album’s mid-section. This allows for more introspective afterglow on Start of My Heart, switching the old school backing vox onto the female side in a manner not unlike a very sober, pensive Amy Winehouse would. Ha, if only! This is a nice tune highlighted by the conclusive line “thank you for the start of my heart”.
As the album continues down the same purely headlit highway I take the opportunity to inspect the artwork, wherein a vintage style poster features a woman with the words “Are We Not Women? A New Pleasure to Be Free”, amongst other weird/cool stuff which all turns out to be done by Wasser’s younger brother Daniel and herself.
The clearest indication that Real Life was then but this is now is, funnily enough, also this album’s title track. It’s much the same premise but less poignant than its predecessor and thereby a B-side of sorts, closely followed in substance by To America for its first few moments, before the welcome addition of Rufus Wainwright and ultimately a horn-inspired band / chorus climax.
