New York based singer / songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joan Wasser previously played with Rufus Wainwright and Lou Reed and was part of Antony & The Johnsons for many years. Her debut record Real Life was a small revelation in 2006, with an intimate and pleasantly derailed sound with which she rivaled some of her former bosses. After successor To Survive, Wasser returns as a tormented
… diva. In the intervening years she traveled the world with great success, but her mother also passed away and did not want to go into love. She reports on this in ten hypothermic and widely (with a lot of brass) arranged soul songs. The emotions she conveys are also more subdued. Her voice is warm, but sometimes she can hardly be heard and she keeps her words under her breath. There are guest appearances from Rufus Wainwright and (that other mutter) David Sylvian. After the playful Real Life, To Survive mainly sounds heavy and carried, but undeniably mature. (MR)more