Joan Wasser has spent the last decade supporting such notables as Rufus Wainwright, the Scissor Sisters, Nick Cave, Sheryl Crow, Lou Reed and Depeche Mode’s David Gahan with her violin and background vocals. Now we have Wasser’s solo debut, what many have called one of 2007’s best albums, Real Life.

Wasser’s haunting voice channels songstresses that have come before her – P.J. Harvey on “Save Me;” Chrissy Hynde pleading through “Christobel” with a rock ’n’ roll snarl. But Wasser’s got something all her own, most evident on songs like “Anyone” and “Real Life,” in which her vulnerable, faltering voice soars with intimacy and moves from the piano bar to manifesto, directing us to the immediacy of risk – and joy – in loving: I’m real life. You’re real life. We’re real life.