I have to say that, initially, I misread the nature and tone of Joan Wasser’s performance this evening. Having seen her play (sans band) at Crawdaddy a few months back, I felt that there was an anxiety and underlying darkness about her demeanour tonight that was not present last time out.
Not to say that she was unfriendly or hostile towards the audience. Far from it, but there seemed to be something distant and pre-occupied about her banter, full of semi-comprehensible, possibly-stoned babble and peculiar random observations.
The tone shifts (or at least became clearer) around two-thirds of the way through the gig. The band (a nervous, tomboyish bassist, and a portly, cap-sporting drummer) depart for a couple of tracks, leaving Wasser alone at her electric piano. She giddily reveals that most of her recently penned-material has been composed of love songs, as she has fallen for an unnamed someone, big-time. It becomes obvious; her oddly detached chatter and dreamy behaviour are actually the symptoms of someone in the throes of an infatuation, not the meanderings of a troubled mind. What a relief!
A relief, because Wasser really is something special – an artist to cherish, in fact. Her debut album may not have made an enormous initial impression on listeners, but its charms have steadily revealed themselves, and tonight each number from it feels like a miniature classic. The melodies are even crisper and more resonant in the live setting; ‘Feed The Light’ is slow-building and languidly gorgeous, while ‘Eternal Flame’ is lavish, dramatic and infectious. ‘We Don’t Own It’ (Wasser’s tribute to the late Elliot Smith) is the stand-out; the poignancy of its subject matter heightened, when one gets to witness her impassioned performance in the flesh.
The only remaining concern is over where she intends to go from here. An angrily-punk-rockin’, furiously anti-war/Bush approach is hinted at on a couple of less familiar tracks. One can thoroughly approve of the sentiments in these songs, but whether it is – artistically – the right move is doubtful. Wasser is unconvincing as a sloganeer, yet peerless at turning everyday happenings into lavish, sublime pop music.