For several years I have been intrigued by the name Joan as Police Woman and her multifaceted musical career but I had never seen her perform live. So the gig at The Haunt provided an excellent opportunity and although this tour was essentially to promote the new album Let It Be You a collaborative effort with Benjamin Lazer Davis (a new discovery for me), this was nevertheless a marvellous chance to see this much respected multi-talented instrumentalist up close.

The evening began with Fil Bo Riva who had come highly recommended and from the growing following on the internet an act not to be missed. However the performance for me was difficult to assess and did not really inspire me as it had a sort of ‘open mic’ feel about it, with the casual drifting on stage, chasms of silence, constant returning of guitars and repeated mention of product to buy at the back of the room rather than delivering a sustained, unified and mesmerising performance. Although the set was quiet short I did partly feel there was something more to discover in the songs and did enjoy the almost flamenco type playing of the acoustic guitar, accompanied by the deep gutteral vocal which is slightly unnerving at first but did have a surprising way of drawing you in. The overall performance would have worked better for me if I had been able to clearly understand what was sung and to some extent what the songs were about. A fact difficult for anybody seeing the act for the first time. Perhaps everything was deliberately aimed at downplaying the performance and the fake leopard skin matching jackets were more a comment on the perceived showbiz element they now find themselves in while on tour, although I’m sure the experience will give them a lot to think about.

For Joan and Benjamin (vocals and keyboards) the focus of the evening was clearly promoting the new album (down to the jump suits, hair do and electro-comp modular synth as seen on the front cover). This they did very well, ably supported by Ian Chang (Son Lux) on drums and Ryan Dugre on guitar and bass, all displaying their multi-talented abilities to amazing effect, providing a tight and well rehearsed outfit if a little too automated at times, performing tracks like ‘Let It Be You’, ‘Broke Me in Two’, ‘Magic Lamp’ and ‘Overload’ as good as on the record. I am not the biggest fan of synthesised, electronic bands but I found the experimental funky type sounds refreshingly different and instrumentation exceptional, always allowing the superb caressing vocals and harmonies to shine through. The evening’s show even had space for two solo songs, beautifully performed by Joan. At the end of each song you could feel the reverence and high regard the audience felt for her and rightly so. There is always that little bit more to enjoy when an artist puts themselves on the line, for you to feel the intricacies of the songs, to soak up the experience, the know how and the talent. This was an assured and sublime performance from an artist who has been building her audience over several years in a variety of ways and can now take them anywhere she wants to go. An amazing achievement.

Like all good performances the proof is in the after effect and realising even more for all its experimentation how good this new album is!
Frank

Read out interview with them here: brightonsfinest.com/html/index.php/spotlight/1904-joan-as-police-woman-interview-2016
Read our review of their album Let It Be You here: brightonsfinest.com/html/index.php/12-music/1887-joan-as-policewoman-and-benjamin-lazar-davis-let-it-be-you

Website: joanaspolicewoman.com
Facebook: facebook.com/joanaspolicewoman
Twitter: twitter.com/JOANPOLICEWOMAN