JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN

ALEXANDRA PALACE THEATRE - JUNE 15th
+ more dates throughout July and August

Joan As Police Woman adds even more dates to current world tour!

In addition to a long run of headline shows, Joan As Police Woman has been confirmed for All Points East in London on Sunday August 28th alongside Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Smile (Radiohead), Michael Kiwanuka, Aldous Harding and more..

UK and Ireland:
15.6.22 Alexandra Palace Theatre, London
22.6.22 Summerhall, Edinburgh
24.6.22 Lemon Tree, Aberdeen
26.6.22 Wylam Brewery Tap, Newcastle
28.6.22 Band On The Wall, Manchester

13.7.22 Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Liverpool
17.7.22 Roisin Dubh, Galway

19.8.22 Brewery Arts, Kendal
20.8.22 Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
21.8.22 Howard Assembly Room, Leeds
26.8.22 Phoenix Arts Centre, Exeter
28.8.22 All Points East Festival, London

Joan: It feels incredibly special to be playing music right now. For many folks our show is the first live music they’ve seen in a couple of years. The excitement level both onstage and in the venue is palpable.

MOJO - A shadowy masterful set - ☆☆☆☆

METRO - Music so good it ought to be illegal - ☆☆☆☆☆

RECORD COLLECTOR - Preposterously great music - ☆☆☆☆☆

THE OBSERVER - The Solution Is Restless is an album that worms its way under your skin, reminding you of half a dozen records you love while sounding unlike anything else around.

MOJO - Evoking both the agonised grain of Nina Simone and the vulnerable gloss of Dusty Springfield, Wasser’s vocal is attuned to this suite of noirish groove and brooding, understated torch songs - ☆☆☆☆

UNCUT - Riveting - 8/10

THE TIMES - Tricky polyrhythms and melodious rhapsodies… Wasser’s levitating voice, and linking it all is Allen’s playing, running through every track like a glittering stream - ☆☆☆☆

THE SPECTATOR - The Solution Is Restless is the sound of a hunch coming good

VOGUE - Album of the Week

The latest release from Joan As Police Woman is THE SOLUTION IS RESTLESS, a joint album written and recorded by Joan As Police Woman, Dave Okumu of The Invisible and legendary drummer Tony Allen shortly before he passed away. Also, Damon Albarn features on one track, Get My Bearings.

Joan Wasser (aka Joan As Police Woman): "Damon Albarn introduced me to Afrobeat legend, Tony Allen, at the Africa Express event “The Circus” in London in 2019. Tony and I played Nina Simone's I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free and made a pact to record together in the future. In November of that year, our pact was realised. My old friend and fierce musician Dave Okumu joined Tony and me in a Parisian studio, where we improvised, untethered by form or tempo. I left with the tapes without knowing exactly how I’d use them.

In April I lost a beloved mentor, Hal Willner. Hal created beautiful and unlikely collaborations among artists. Hal appointed me Musical Director of Hal’s collaboration on Neil Young’s songbook in 2004 (Prospect Park) and 2011 (Winter Olympics Vancouver). Grieving Hal’s death, I began creating songs from the Parisian improvisations, only to learn of Tony’s passing while in the studio. As my world became undone, I focused on creating the new album from the Paris collaboration.

This production style danced in my mind for years. The songs are composed in various ways. For some, I used only a one-bar drum loop; for others I created blueprints around basic A/B sections we had improvised. I used the source material in every way possible. The pandemic allowed me to explore and experiment for months in my home studio.

The album title, The Solution Is Restless, is a lyric from one of the songs, Geometry Of You, which muses on the numerical perfection of numbers and geometry applied to a person’s body, heart and mind. Rather than orchestrate an elaborate seduction of a lover, I simply ask them what they want. The answer is my poetic understanding of quantum theory: the solution is restless. The solution to caress a person’s heart is final and fluid, different on a different day, constantly changing."

Joan Wasser (Joan As Police Woman) followed stints with Anohni’s ensemble (formerly Antony & The Johnsons) and Rufus Wainwright with the release of her debut album in 2006, ‘Real Life’. The album won “Best Rock and Pop Album,” at the Independent Music Awards. Her second album, To Survive, was chosen in 2008, as one of Q Magazine’s, “Albums of the Year.” Similar praise was heaped on subsequent albums, 2011’s ‘The Deep Field’, 2014’s ‘The Classic’ and perhaps her most rapturously received album to date, 2018’s ‘Damned Devotion’.

Over the last two years she has written and recorded with Damon Albarn for the Gorillaz ‘Song Machine’ album - listen to ‘Simplicity’ HERE - released her second album of covers (‘Cover Two’) and her first live album, ‘Live’. She also appeared on the Afel Bocoum album ‘Lindé’ (World Circuit). In January 2021 Joan was hired by NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at Tisch as a mentor.

Tony Allen was the drummer and musical director of Fela Kuti’s band Africa '70 from 1968 to 1979, and was one of the primary co-founders of the genre of Afrobeat. Fela once stated that, "without Tony Allen, there would be no Afrobeat” and he was described by Brian Eno as "perhaps the greatest drummer who has ever lived". Besides many other musical milestones and collaborations, in recent years Tony teamed up with Damon Albarn, Paul Simonon and Simon Tong to form The Good, the Bad & the Queen.

Dave Okumu is best known for fronting the Mercury Music Prize band The Invisible and his recent album ‘Knopperz’

Sunday Times - ‘Sensational’ // Uncut – ‘This is breathtakingly good music' // Mojo – ‘full of meditative beauty…ravishing and lovelorn’ // The Guardian -‘a voice so wondrous and moving that it makes everyone else’s seem ordinary and mundane’ // Q - ‘Beautiful’ // The Times - ‘The coolest woman in pop’ // The Economist - ‘Joan As Police Woman is one of the 21st century’s best musicians’