Joan As Police Woman reveals ‘Flushed Chest’, previewing ‘Real Life Evolution’ album. Guests include Iggy Pop

Photo By Judi Rosen

NYC-based artist Joan As Police Woman is revisiting her origin story. The beloved American songwriter has announced her new album “Real Life Evolution”, out June 12 via Reveal Records, a full-circle rework of her 2006 debut “Real Life”. Twenty years on, she rebuilds the record from the ground up with a cast that includes godfather of punk, Iggy Pop, and Krystle Warren, a fiercely independent voice bridging folk, jazz, and soul. This record sounds less like a remake than a time-warped conversation between past and present.

Joan Wasser, famously known as Joan As Police Woman, has long operated in her own lane—part soul confessional, part art-pop experiment, always hard to pin down. Across ten studio albums and a handful of side projects, she’s collaborated with the likes of Tony Allen, Lou Reed, Rufus Wainwright, and Damon Albarn, and regularly holds down keys and vocals in Iggy Pop’s live band.

Built slowly over years of touring, Real Life Evolution captures what happens when songs refuse to sit still. Some stay close to the bone; others stretch out, mutate, and come back changed, shaped by a new circle of players.

Two tracks—“Flushed Chest” and “The Ride”—are already out in the world, with the former doubling as part of her ongoing Real Life Anniversary Sessions, a series of intimate, stripped-back performances. Wasser has said “Flushed Chest” was sparked by Martin Amis’ “Time’s Arrow” and a heavy rotation of The Wailers, and in its new trio form, the song lands somewhere between reverent and reawakened.

She’s always framed Real Life as a kind of personal blueprint, the record where everything first clicked into place. Two decades later, she’s still chasing that spark—onstage, in collaboration, and in the shared electricity of live performance.

Real Life Evolution lands June 12. Shortly after, she’ll take it on the road for a 20th anniversary tour, performing the album in full alongside favorites, deep cuts, and the occasional left turn, with a run of intimate shows lined up at Joe’s Pub in New York City.

‘Flushed Chest’ video:

‘The Ride’ live video  

Album pre-order  https://joanaspolicewoman.bandcamp.com/album/real-life-evolution-album-2026
Spotify  https://open.spotify.com/artist/6PBv8t9YTLggA9ZMwpeoqj
Get tickets  https://linktr.ee/japw and  https://www.joanaspolicewoman.com/tour