Critically acclaimed multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Joan As Police Woman returns to Aotearoa New Zealand in May 2025 for a three-date career-spanning solo tour including material from new album Lemons, Limes & Orchids.
Lemons, Limes & Orchids – out now via Play It Again Sam – promises an intimate journey through the unique soundscape of Joan As Police Woman (aka Joan Wasser) – blending jazz, ambient, and electronic elements. This tour offers a chance to experience Joan’s artistry up close, as she performs at some of New Zealand’s cherished venues.
Plus1 with 95bFM and UTR proudly present the New Zealand tour:
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Friday 16th May 2025: Ray Freedman Arts Centre (Epsom Girls Grammar), Auckland
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Saturday 17th May 2025: Old St Paul’s, Wellington
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Sunday 18th May 2025: The Piano, Christchurch
Tickets will be available from 9am Thursday 26th September via Plus1.co.nz.
At its core, the Lemons, Limes & Orchids is a record about love and loss. Beyond that, it is ultimately a body of work that functions as a nocturne for the expansion of time. A tribute to holding on with a supreme focus on audibly reckoning with our collective collapse and disorientation. It’s about how love leaves us breathless from joy and from sorrow.
A crowning showcase of Joan’s artistry in all its metamorphic splendour, the new album sees Joan venture deeper into her jazz influences with further affectations associated with electronic and ambient music. The album features production and instrumentation from an impressive list of collaborators. The accomplished personnel includes the legendary and GRAMMY–Award winning Meshell Ndegeocello on bass, Chris Bruce (Seal, Trevor Horn, Alanis Morisette) on guitar, Daniel Mintseris (St. Vincent, David Byrne, Elvis Costello & The Imposters) on keys, and Parker Kindred (Jeff Buckley, Liam Gallagher) and Otto Hauser alternating on drums.
Lemons, Limes & Orchids is Joan As Police Woman’s first project since the 2021 release of The Solution Is Restless; the sprawling collaborative album made with the late Afrobeat pioneer Tony Allen and multi-disciplinary artist Dave Okumu. Sonically spanning afrobeat, jazz, trip-hop, pop-rock and funk, upon its release the album garnered rapturous critical acclaim from The Guardian, NPR, NME, Stereogum, The Line Of Best Fit, CLASH and Rolling Stone Australia. Eventually parlaying into more plaudits from Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and an invitation to play All Points East Festival with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.
Speaking on the new album, Joan said: “I was ready to make an album that truly featured my voice. The basics were recorded like they used to be – with me singing live along with the band. My good friend told me this is the sexiest album I’ve ever made. Honestly, I think she’s right.”
Lemons, Limes and Orchids features singles ‘Long For Ruin,’ ‘Back Again,’ and ‘Full Time Heist,’ which saw support from Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, Under The Radar and Northern Transmissions among others. ‘Full Time Heist’ was accompanied by a moving music video, pulling reference from the Wim Wenders’ classic Wings of Desire.
Over the course of Joan’s illustrious 3-decade career, she’s made more than considerable strides building her pedigree as a live act. Performing with and alongside luminaries like Lou Reed, Rufus Wainwright, Damon Albarn, John Cale, Laurie Anderson, Sufjan Stevens, Anohni, Beck, Toshi Reagon and most notably the late Jeff Buckley, who she has affectionately referred to as her soulmate. When not touring and recording, Joan also teaches at NYU’s prestigious Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.
Earlier this year, Joan joined Iggy Pop’s touring band as a keyboardist and background vocalist. Join Joan As Police Woman this May as she brings her latest work to life across three nights on New Zealand’s shores.
UPCOMING LIVE NEW ZEALAND SHOWS:
- Friday 16th May: Ray Freedman Arts Centre (Epsom Girls Grammar), Auckland
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Saturday 17th May: Old St Pauls, Wellington
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Sunday 18th May: The Piano, Christchurch
For more information about the New Zealand tour, see Plus1.co.nz and joanaspolicewoman.com
Joan As Police Woman – Remember the Voice (Official Music Video)
Listen / Download: https://
Joan As Police Woman – Full-Time Heist (Official Music Video)
Listen / Download: https://
Early Praise for Limes, Lemons and Orchids:
“Joan is one of the most charismatic, compelling and nuanced performers
you could ever hope to see live.” – Ambient Light
“Joan As Police Woman is one of the 21st century’s best musicians” –The Economist
“The coolest woman in pop” – The Times
“a voice so wondrous and moving that it makes everyone else’s seem ordinary and mundane” – The Guardian
“This is breathtakingly good music” – UNCUT
“Full of meditative beauty…ravishing and lovelorn” – MOJO
Joan As Police Woman
Limes, Lemon and Orchids
The Dream
Full Time Heist
Back Again
With Hope In My Breath
Long For Ruin
Started Off Free
Remember The Voice
Oh Joan
Lemons, Limes and Orchids
Tribute To Holding On
Safe To Say
Help Is On Its Way
Joan As Police Woman online:
Official Site / Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / Youtube
