It shouldn’t take a new, career-spanning, three-CD set (called Joanthology) to see that Joan Wasser, Joan As Police Woman to record buyers, is one of the finer, and certainly the most consistent and dedicated,soul singers of the past 20 years. She brings a deep well of emotion and insight to songs which slow burn, plays with rhythm in ways that make bodies react before minds do, and while technically sound there’s an intensity of spirit that works with, rather than being unde

JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN Damned Devotion (PIAS/Inertia) “Once I said I’d never lie, but who believed me?/I kept my promise, now I find the joke’s on me.” There is no throwaway in the choice of “damned” preceding devotion in the title of Joan Wasser’s new album. Back in familiar territory of close-breathing soul, angular R&B and rhythmic indie pop, Wasser is also back on favourite ground of the potholes and verdant edges, winding and rising roads, of intimate relationships. “Tell