Joan As Police Woman Revisits Debut with ‘Real Life Evolution,’ Talks Reworking on Meet Our Makers

Joan Wasser, who records as Joan As Police Woman, has returned to her 2006 solo debut Real Life with an exact 20-years-later counterpart: Real Life Evolution is a complete reimagining of the original LP, featuring different track sequencing, altered atmospheres, and some radically reshaped songs. Wasser spoke about the project on episode 113 of the Meet Our Makers podcast, detailing what pushed her to revisit the record and how the new versions came together.

The Brooklyn-based singer, songwriter, and violinist emerged from the 1990s New York scene but took until 2006 to release Real Life. The new recording takes the album’s raw materials into unfamiliar territory—a move that shifts the work’s emotional center and challenges listeners’ memory of the songs. In the expansive conversation, Wasser also touched on live performance, working with ANOHNI and Iggy Pop, and the place of improvisation in her music, underscoring her relationship with sound as a living, changing practice.