Before striking out on her own as a singer-songwriter, Joan Wasser was a violinist, gigging and recording with Lou Reed, Tanya Donelly, and Antony and the Johnsons. If those guys rubbed off on her, it's hard to tell: Wasser's debut LP sounds straighter than any of her past collaborators', with well-groomed, piano-soaked stuff that shows off her malleable drawl and gift for pretty. Wasser is engaging when she lets some grit or weirdness trickle in: "Save Me," a dark, sorta-funky lament about losing her man could almost be Fiona Apple, and though "Eternal Flame" swells to a lovey-dovey chorus, it also banks on a syncopated melody that's way catchier than anything else on the record. But Real Life loses its way on cushy, delicately crooned ballads like "The Ride" and the title track, which are tasteful and Starbucks-ready like the last Beth Orton record, only missing backbone, and tunes. Wasser kept the fiddle playing to a minimum; couldn't she have done the same with the sleepy stuff?