If anyone in the industry has paid their dues, its Joan Wasser – from working with Rufus Wainwright, Lou Reed, Beck, RZA, Sufjan Stevens and more, to her killer streak under the moniker Joan as Police Woman – she’s the understated muse behind many a collaboration, and the calm, languorous voice masking an apocalypse of devastating ballads. We imagine Joan fans have come to expect the unexpected over the years: after the upbeat, brassy pop of ‘The Classic’ in 2013, Wasser’s fifth album ‘Damned Devotion’ is being billed as a return of sorts to the stripped-back compositions of her earliest records. Lead single ‘Warning Bell’ suggests as much – a song that cooly struts and looks you in the eye to deflect attention from the bruises and disintegration beneath its surface. It gives the impression of being bare bones, starkly honest, but the production is deceptively deep and complex; like Wasser herself, it seems intimate and unknowable at the same time.

Thu 19 Apr 7.30pm at The Town Hall, Victoria Square, Birmingham B3 3DQ £25.50 thsh.com