The trouble with being the last person in your family to walk out under the spotlight is that it takes a while for people to stop referring to your famous family. But over the course of her career, Martha Wainwright has firmly established herself as a talented artist in her own right—maybe even the one in her family to watch.
Her vocal style has been compared to both Kate Bush and the Muppets, and I think it makes sense to toss in a hit of Tegan and Sara’s quirky sound as well. But what gets me most about Wainwright’s music is that she writes unbelievably great songs. Her wickedly personal lyrics tackle infidelity on “You Cheated Me” with a remarkably sunny, ’80s- inspired chorus of “You cheated me and I can’t believe it/ I’ve been calling since four o’clock last night.” But on the album’s opener, “Bleeding All Over You,” she takes on the role of the other woman, watching the object of her affection head off into the sunset with his wife and family.
Though Wainwright recently married bassist Brad Albetta, the albumcycles through all kinds of heartache and rejection before looking forward to better prospects. It’s enough to make fans selfishly hope her wedded bliss isn’t too blissful, because with each album Wainwright invites her fans in on exactly what’s been happening in her life since the last visit.
While some musicians choose to write from the perspective of a character, her songs always sound nakedly autobiographical, even if they’re not. Joining Wainwright on this disc are guests like Pete Townshend, Donald Fagen, her mother Kate McGarrigle and her brother Rufus. She also tosses in covers of tracks by Pink Floyd (“See Emily Play”) and The Eurythmics (“Love is a Stranger”). But the real highlights of any Martha Wainwright album come when she unabashedly lets the listener in on her moods, feelings and passions, something that— fortunately for us—she’s all too willing to do.
