JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN returns with a new album, Damned Devotion, and it’s her best yet.
The first video to accompany the album is for Warning Bell (Track of the Day on Lauren Laverne’s 6Music show), a tender, bewitching song of regret Joan wrote about “being a romantic and the naiveté that goes along with it.”
Directed by New York filmmaker/artist H Spencer Young (hspenceryoung.com) Joan wanted to capture the performance of the song without obscuring the power of the lyrics. Joan: “Words mean different things to different people and it’s important to me to allow the listener to have images of their own. That being said, the weather cooperated with us that night – rain and moisture in the air has always made me thoughtful. We wanted to capture the mystery of New York City while driving through Chinatown and parts of Brooklyn that hold deep meaning for me.”
Already acknowledged as a thrilling live performer and starkly honest lyricist, new album Damned Devotion finds Joan Wasser at her rawest. While her 2014 album The Classic was a soulful celebration of life and her 2011 album The Deep Field a lush moody expansion, this new release sees her stripping her compositions back to the core, the bare-all lyricism and timeless melodies harking back to her accolade-winning album To Survive (2008) and the universally acclaimed debut album Real Life (2006). Joan: “My maxim is: if it feels scary to say it, it’s the thing you must say”. And on Damned Devotion the thoughtful lyricism is married to Joan’s most accessible music to date.
Famously a collaborator and muse to artists as diverse as Anohni, Rufus Wainwright, Lou Reed and Beck, since the release of her last album Joan has worked alongside fashion designers Viktor & Rolf as well as a growing list of musicians including Sufjan Stevens, Lau, RZA and most recently Daniel Johnston.
“I say yes to almost everything,” she admits. “I just want to be making music all the time. I can comfortably say that music has saved my life and continues to save my life. I am a devotee. It’s not something I can even choose or not choose, it’s just what is.” …Damned Devotion
- Wonderful
- Warning Bell
- Tell Me
- Steed (For Jean Genet)
- Damned Devotion
- The Silence
- Valid Jagger
- Rely On
- What Was It Like
- Talk About it Later
- Silly Me
- I Don’t Mind