Joan Thoughts From Abroad

It was February when we last had a proper chinwag with Joan. Back then, she was still riding high on the good vibes created by her effervescent fourth studio outing, The Deep Field. With a tonne of touring under her belt between then and now, the first leg of which she claims was her best ever live experience, the positivity is still flowing. Her Twitter page in recent months has read like a joyous shout out to every country she passes through and when you’re playing in the sun-baked likes of Italy and Southern France, who can blame her? On that note, she’s set to return to our wet, windy island in the middle of the Atlantic in September… “Haha, that’s right!” she laughs. “But it’s always such a pleasure to land on your cold rock. Because the feeling is always the opposite of that. It’s one of my favorite places to play. And then the Electric Picnic festival is really tops, as well.”

The last time she was on Irish soil, she proudly announced to the Dublin crowd that she’d just finished reading Ulysses. No mean feat, congratulations are definitely in order.
“Thank you very much! Well, let’s put it this way, I finished it in my own way. I don’t think I read every single word but I read most of them! It’s an amazing thing but I’m glad I don’t have to teach a class on it.”
When pressed Wasser is fairly adamant she’s not giving up the music game to become a lit professor, but she is clearly enamoured of Joyce. Has she had a read of his love letters to Nora Barnacle? Hilarious and filthy in equal measure – ‘graphic’ doesn’t even begin to cover it – they’re worth a Google.
“I have. I actually have the book! They’re wonderful. I feel like his is a pretty beautiful template for living in general. I’m a little bit disgusting, so I can relate. Would we have hit it off had our lives intersected? Most definitely!”
Gregarious, warm and just generally pretty lovely, you get the feeling Joan Wasser would hit it off with almost anybody. In the past, she’s had plenty of dark challenges to overcome and for a long time that fed into her music. Happily, the contented, soulful departure that is The Deep Field finally seems like the right fit for the violinist-turned-frontwoman. She’s clearly still drawing from the buzz of exploring those songs onstage. What’s different this time around?

“It’s probably my attitude, y’know?” she says. “The record’s really fun to play. Plus I’m at the point where I don’t feel uncomfortable anymore, on stage or wherever. I love the guys that I play with – Parker Kindred and Tyler Wood – they’re just incredible musicians. I get onstage knowing it’s going to be a wonderful experience. That’s huge.”
Not only are they a talented bunch of guys but they also have the kind of names that you’d usually find in a comic book. Is that a necessity if you’re going to roll with Joan? Another hearty laugh.
“It wasn’t a pre-requisite!” she roars. “But I have to say they could easily slip into a soap opera. Maybe we could make a soap opera, like, on stage? But I don’t have a good enough name. I’d have to be named… Lakeisha Wasservelt or something.”
Is there enough drama backstage to make for a decent Dallas-style TV hit?

“Well clearly each of us would need to have a twin. And then someone would be in a coma and dramatically recover. I could go on forever, just stop me now.”
While a small-screen career mightn’t be on the cards just yet, anyone who’s seen Joan’s videos of late will surely have enjoyed both her acting chops and their surrealist nature. ‘Magic’ featured a bunch of musclemen. New single ‘Chemmie’ is even odder. Can she explain exactly what’s going on in it?
“Well, the gist of it is that there’s a women’s rugby team and as their mascot they have the Wolf Man – half-human, half-wolf. They treat him badly, y’know, he’s a freak. And of course I’ve fallen in love with him. So we try to escape from the rugby team. The thing that kicks it into ultra-absurd-land is that the rugby players are wearing Groucho Marx masks. I really don’t ever wanna make a video that’s trying to be serious.”

An admirable stance. And at a time when we’re bombarded with sparkly, emotional vampires, it’s nice to see a nod to the werewolf.
“Ha, I agree. Vampires are boring, werewolves are where it’s at! But I’m not going to force them on people, I just like ‘em myself.”
Let’s hope for a full moon down at Stradbally then. With that Irish date on the horizon, and a host of live shows still to play this year, what comes next for Joan? Famed for her high-profile collaborations (Antony Hegarty, Rufus Wainwright, to name but two), can we expect more in the future?

“There is one actually, but I’m note sure if I can talk about it. Let’s just say that it’s with someone that sang on To Survive that isn’t Rufus (former Japan frontman David Sylvian, then).”
Last year Joan took part in Damon Albarn’s African Express tour of Ethiopia. With news that Albarn is going to Congo to record, did she fancy the idea of heading off with him again?
“Well, I’ve heard plans of heading to another African country in the winter. So I will be jumping onto that if it does indeed come to pass.”
Her time in Ethiopia clearly made a big impression.

“Oh yeah, it did,” she nods. “I’ve been in South Africa before but Ethiopia couldn’t have been less like that. The people were really open, really friendly and the musical tradition is incredible. You can feel that there. It’s mindblowing. I look forward to going back to Ethiopia at some point.”
She’s said previously that the openness of the African people made her feel better about talking to strangers on the New York subway. She’s at home in New York now, having a well-deserved break from touring — does she feel inspired to go and have a natter with the colourful characters using public transport after we finish this interview?
“Well, I always talk to everyone anyway! It was the kind of thing where I felt, ‘Oh god, I don’t feel so bad doing this anymore!’ That’s what’s nice about Ethiopia, people aren’t afraid of each other. It was a beautiful experience of humanity.”