Real Life

"Joan is the best champagne in the world. A voice so wonderous and moving that it makes everyone else's seem ordinary and mundane. She is the indie generation's Dusty Springfield… so hypnotic and sad and so good it will make you shiver."
- The Guardian

"Sublime debut… flooringly beautiful… absolutely devastating."
- Q magazine (4/5)

"For once a bizarre name flags a genuinely idiosyncratic talent. 'Real Life' contains as much naked emotion as it does artful cleverness. A constant thrill."
- The Telegraph

"I defy anyone not to be smitten by Joan's highly original songs."
- The Sun

"There is fire in the sophistication."
- Uncut

"There might not be a better debut all year."
- The Times

Sometimes the artist knows best. Influences: "Life." Sounds Like: "The wind rushing through the forest. After all, beauty is the new punk rock. For me, the most subversive you can be these days is to be totally honest and to really laud beauty."
- Joan Wesser

Joan As Police Woman's 'Real Life' album goes a long way to laud honesty, trust and beauty, and in doing so, lauds her own beauty. You might know Joan from her loud serrated bands The Dambuilders, Black Beetle and Those Bastard Souls. Or possibly from playing more subtly and quietly in Antony's Johnsons or Rufus Wainwright's band. Her musical career, even in this nutshell, can send you weak at the knees - as there's also collaborations with Scissor Sisters, Lou Reed, Nick Cave, Sparklehorse and more.

Some influences pervade, but this is all together different - it's music that shimmers, torch-songlike, between categories. It feels adjacent to jazz while being deeply soulful. The voice and delivery has raised comparisons to Dusty Springfield or Chrissie Hynde.

Like Antony, Joan's music seems to have come out of nowhere, and yet feels fully-formed, idiosyncratically individual, all on, and of, it's own. Simply, Joan As Police Woman feels very Joan. And as you'll hear, that is a very, very good thing indeed.

Listening to 'Real Life', you'll notice Joan's not hiding behind that glittery violin or sheltering in the storm of rock's typical form of expression. "Anger is so easy and I have been angry for so long. But anger only arises from other feelings you're not dealing with. I'm trying to get deeper." 'Real Life' has seen her begin her descent and it's a thrilling ride to be party to. Highly recommended.