At this point shuffling the unheard songs on my iPod can turn up anything. My collection is approaching 25,000 tracks, with three thousand I’ve never listened to before, with entries running from 70s AM Gold to 80s hair rock to new LPs out this year. Knowing I added something to iTunes has no bearing on when I’ll eventually hear it. It could be months.

Given the vast unknown that is my unheard playlist, sometimes it turns up random gems that wind up on repeat for hours at a time. That was the case when Joan as Police Woman‘s “Chemmie” came on last week.

First, I have a undeniable soft spot for songs with any of the key words “chemical,” “communications,” and “crisis,” so I was bound to pay attention from the first chorus. Second, this song is sexy as I don’t know what. It’s like a slouching, indie-rock take on “Let’s Stay Together.” It would definitely go on my candlelit-baby-making mix tape, if such a thing existed.

Instant five-stars!

I’m definitely growing a soft spot for Joan as Police Woman, whose music trends to resembling a sulty, low-key take on the Pretenders’ best moments of simmering funk groove. I’ve stayed willfully ignorant of what the band moniker actually represents, but for the purposes of this post peeked at Wikipedia just long enough to learn that it’s the one-woman band of Joan Wasser, who – much like Chrissie Hynde before her – is an American with a decidedly UK sonic bent.

“Chemmie” is from Joan as Police Woman’s 2011 LP The Deep Field.