“The Magic”
from the album The Deep Field
2011
iTunes
Joan Wasser, aka Joan as Policewoman, seems to be riding on a crest of contentment these days. If Wasser’s previous work tended to make sense of loss, death and mourning, The Deep Field, her fourth album, seems to be the positive light at the end of the tunnel for the singer from NYC.
Substituting Stevie Wonder for Virginia Woolf, Wasser has broken through the darkness and found some sort of happiness — making this her most joyous record to date.
On the feel good opening track “Nervous,” Wasser’s sweet falsetto vocals meander effortlessly behind a rolling bass line and whirling organ, while “The Magic,” the first single from the album, is possibly the catchiest pop tune that you are likely to hear for quite some time. While Wasser seems to have cranked up the feel good factor a notch or two, she still returns briefly to her roots of introspection on the eight minute brooding ballad, “Flash.” The album ends with the epic “I was Everyone” with its three-minute outro of gospel singing, horns, wah wah guitars, and blissful euphoric vocals.
Everything from Massive Attack, Nina Simone, Spiritualized, and Sly and the Family Stone make their way through — in terms of influences — on this eclectic, positive, sassy and soulful record.
did she date jeff buckley or am i thinking of someone else?
Yes, she did.