I was introduced to Joan as police woman (Joan Wasser) while listening to Anthony and the Johnsons’ “I Am A Bird Now” (Which deserves a blog entry by itself) and I was amazed to find myself searching information about her and her unique voice.

Wasser, a violinist and a pianist, started playing when she was six, and focused on classical music. She then started exploring new art forms -  "Beethoven has been played a million times. I wasn’t going to do it any better. I was always looking to be musically different". She had sang and played violin with Rufus Wainwright, Lou Reed, Antony and the Johnsons and Nick Cave. She had also released two solo albums: ‘Real Life’ in 2006 and ‘To Survive’ in 2008.

‘Joan as police woman’ came from a 70’s TV show starring Angie Dickinson. She liked the character so much - that she decided to become like her “She said what she wanted, slept with whoever she wanted and didn’t care what anybody thought of her. What a fine role model for anyone!”.

Her First album ‘Real Life’ was dedicated to her Ex-boyfriend Jeff Buckley who drowned in Wolf River Harbor, a tributary of the Mississippi River. Keith Foti, Buckley's friend who went swimming with him that night stated that while swimming Jeff sang Led Zeppelin’s ‘Whole Lotta Love’. Buckley’s body, fully clothed and still wearing boots, was found on June 4th 1997 by a passing tourist.
Wasser told the press that a night before his death, Buckley told her that he believed he had found his destiny and the cause for his dramatic moods.

Buckley wrote the song “Everybody Here Wants You” to Wasser and in return she had written the song “Flushed Chest” for him, where she sings: “I saw you today, selling all your clothes. You were done with hollywood, the waterfall was rushing through you”.

Her new album ‘To Survive’ was written by the shadow of another death - that of her mother from cancer. except for being mellancholy and beautiful, this album has a clear political side to it.

I agree with Yossi Kolesnicov that a cover song is one of the best ways to test musical skills, as it involves taking a well known song, and transforming it completely to match the spirit that only this unique musician can acheive. Therefore, I am sure that he would love Wasser’s version of The Beatles’ “I Will” from their excellent White Album. Wasser’s version, in comparison to The Beatles’ is more mellancholy and touching - she turned it and cooked it and left it to rot and then cooked it again - beautiful!

When I think of what to say about her songs, I think of a pearl, so fine and polished. It’s as if the beauty of each song is final and clear. I can’t imagine anyone covering her songs... Each song is like a Twin Peaks episode, where the piano is tearing at your soul, and if you really listen, and consume it fully - you get high.



In other news, there is a great new music site for you to check out called “Deezer”.
In it you can create playlists and share music with your loved ones, and also to discover new music while using their super-cool “smartradio” option.
It’s free and it’s cool, then why not?

Enjoy.