Joan As Police Woman is one of those ballsy-artsy artists we celebrate at Flux, and she’s celebrating ten years since her debut album with a new album and a world tour with fellow Brooklynite, Benjamin Lazar Davis.
Originally a classical violinist, Joan Wasser evolved into a fiercely independent and adventurous front woman through incarnations playing for various bands before collaborating with Antony and the Johnsons, Rufus Wainwright, Lou Reed and David Sylvian. Joan as Police Woman started in 2002, and saw Joan’s first solo endeavour named tongue in cheek-ly after the 1970s TV series ‘Police Woman’ starring Angie Dickinson.
The new album – ‘Let It Be You’ by Joan As Police Woman & Benjamin Lazar Davis – was released by Reveal Records in October, a true collaboration from studio to stage, from two musicians well known for their ability to effortlessly cross musical genres (Benjamin is a talented multi-instrumentalist who currently performs with Okkervil River, Cuddle Magic and Bridget Kearney).
Joan and Ben met after separate trips to Africa; Ethiopia for Joan as part of Damon Albarn’s Africa Express, and West Africa for Lazar to study traditional music. They initially bonded over Central African Republic Pygmy musical patterns and ended up writing this album together loosely inspired by this music.
Looking forward to the UK tour starting next week (see dates below) the pair will be performing with a full band, and will showcase songs from the new album and re-imagine landmark recordings from the four previous Joan albums (Real Life, To Survive, The Deep Field, The Classic).
Catch the title track from ‘Let It Be You’ HERE, or get tickets for the UK tour dates HERE.
Joan As Police Woman, November 2016 Tour Dates
14th – GLASGOW Art School
15th – LEEDS Belgrave Music Hall
16th – MANCHESTER Gorilla
17th – HEBDEN BRIDGE Trades Club
18th – BRIGHTON Haunt
19th – PORTSMOUTH Wedgewood Rooms
20th – BRISTOL Thekla
21st – LONDON Heaven
