Critically acclaimed multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Joan As Police Woman returns to Aotearoa New Zealand in May 2025 for a three-date career-spanning solo tour including material from new album Lemons, Limes & Orchids.
Lemons, Limes & Orchids - out now via Play It Again Sam - promises an intimate journey through the unique soundscape of Joan As Police Woman (aka Joan Wasser) - blending jazz, ambient, and electronic elements. This tour offers a chance to experience Joan’s artistry up close, as she performs at some of New Zealand’s cherished venues.
At its core, the Lemons, Limes & Orchids is a record about love and loss. Beyond that, it is ultimately a body of work that functions as a nocturne for the expansion of time. A tribute to holding on with a supreme focus on audibly reckoning with our collective collapse and disorientation. It’s about how love leaves us breathless from joy and from sorrow.
A crowning showcase of Joan's artistry in all its metamorphic splendour, the new album sees Joan venture deeper into her jazz influences with further affectations associated with electronic and ambient music. The album features production and instrumentation from an impressive list of collaborators. The accomplished personnel includes the legendary and GRAMMY-Award winning Meshell Ndegeocello on bass, Chris Bruce (Seal, Trevor Horn, Alanis Morisette) on guitar, Daniel Mintseris (St. Vincent, David Byrne, Elvis Costello & The Imposters) on keys, and Parker Kindred (Jeff Buckley, Liam Gallagher) and Otto Hauser alternating on drums.
Lemons, Limes & Orchids is Joan As Police Woman’s first project since the 2021 release of The Solution Is Restless; the sprawling collaborative album made with the late Afrobeat pioneer Tony Allen and multi-disciplinary artist Dave Okumu. Sonically spanning afrobeat, jazz, trip-hop, pop-rock and funk, upon its release the album garnered rapturous critical acclaim from The Guardian, NPR, NME, Stereogum, The Line Of Best Fit, CLASH and strong>Rolling Stone Australia. Eventually parlaying into more plaudits from Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and an invitation to play All Points East Festival with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.
Speaking on the new album, Joan said: “I was ready to make an album that truly featured my voice. The basics were recorded like they used to be - with me singing live along with the band. My good friend told me this is the sexiest album I’ve ever made. Honestly, I think she’s right.”
Lemons, Limes and Orchids features singles ‘Long For Ruin,’ ‘Back Again,’ and ‘Full Time Heist,’ which saw support from Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, Under The Radar and Northern Transmissions among others. ‘Full Time Heist’ was accompanied by a moving music video, pulling reference from the Wim Wenders’ classic Wings of Desire.
Over the course of Joan’s illustrious 3-decade career, she’s made more than considerable strides building her pedigree as a live act. Performing with and alongside luminaries like Lou Reed, Rufus Wainwright, Damon Albarn, strong>John Cale, Laurie Anderson, Sufjan Stevens, Anohni, Beck, Toshi Reagon and most notably the late Jeff Buckley, who she has affectionately referred to as her soulmate. When not touring and recording, Joan also teaches at NYU’s prestigious Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.
Earlier this year, Joan joined Iggy Pop’s touring band as a keyboardist and background vocalist. Join Joan As Police Woman this May as she brings her latest work to life across three nights on New Zealand's shores.
Post a comment