Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Lemons, Limes and Orchids is the 12th studio album by an unorthodox but consistently rewarding singer-songwriter. Its songs have a supple groove and probing feel as though circling an idea or scenario. Joan Wasser, aka Joan as Police Woman, sings with nuanced changes in emphasis, one moment pressing, the next softly languorous. The combination of rhythmic depth and vocal sophistication recalls the vaunted spirit of one of her musical inspirations, Joni Mitchell.Wasser has been operating as Joan as Police Woman since 2004. Her curious stage name derives from one of the first television cop shows with a female lead. Police Woman was a 1970s procedural drama with Angie Dickinson as an officer who goes undercover to solve crimes, posing as a nurse, airline stewardess and so on. Wasser became Joan as Police Woman after a friend compared her look to Dickinson’s character. But there is a further affinity. Like the undercover TV crimebuster, she has appeared in many different guises during her career.Raised in Connecticut, she trained as a classical violinist but wanted to perform new music rather than repertoire. She played in punk and alt-rock bands, trying to make her violin as loud as possible, before joining Antony and the Johnsons in 1999. She has done session work for Elton John and the Scissor Sisters among others, toured in Lou Reed’s backing band and played keyboards for Iggy Pop. Her last album, 2021’s The Solution Is Restless, was a collaboration involving Afrobeat pioneer Tony Allen (who died the year before its release).“I was ready to make an album that truly featured my voice,” she says of her new songs. Her vocals start up almost immediately in most of the 12 tracks. “Back Again” is a plea to an absent lover to return, done with subtly soulful intensity. “With Hope in My Breath” finds her switching to a breathier type of singing for an entrancing ode about infatuation. The basslines that give the music its swing are played by fellow singer-songwriter Meshell Ndegeocello. Drums, piano, synths and guitars are the other main instruments. Love and pain are the lyrical poles. The songwriting quality is high throughout, but the title track stands out. It is an achingly drawn-out number with cryptic lyrics about trying to make one’s way in a dangerous world. Precise meaning is elusive, but the song’s power is unmistakable.★★★★☆‘Lemons, Limes and Orchids’ is released by Play It Again Sam
