It’s been six years since US multi-instrumentalist Joan Wasser released Damned Devotion, her last album of new material. There have been stopgaps along the way – 2020’s playful Cover Two, featuring reworkings of songs by the likes of Prince and the Strokes, and a live album – but Wasser seemed to be playing for time. On this 12th album, she finally releases all that pent-up emotion, picking at love and loss in stripped back, nocturnal songs that calmly ebb and flow.
Eschewing the pop-leaning, retro-soul of 2014’s The Classic, and Damned Devotion’s lurches into funk, here Wasser focuses on live instrumentation and her versatile voice. On the lilting Full-Time Heist she slinks softly around a simple click beat and piano trills, while on the undulating highlight, Oh Joan, her high-wire falsetto slowly gives way to the sighed, repeated title of the chorus.
While the textures are often smooth, there are occasional ripples: The Dream, built around a loop of Wasser’s sighs, is eerily off-kilter, and Back Again flirts with R&B grooves. Overall, however, Wasser is happiest when delicately pondering life’s elemental truths, like a torch singer just about holding on.
