Martha Wainwright - Self-Titled
By: Mark Runyon | Category: Album Archive | 05/11/05 | 03:38 PM
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 Grade: A- |
Genre: Folk
Summary: This is an album of peculiar grace and unsheathed emotion. Wainwright takes the sum of her musical heritage and collected influences to create this highly compelling work. It is brimming with a taut intensity displaying candid portrayals of a life lived without strings.
Every now and again you run across something so unexpected that it just knocks you out of the driver's seat and just takes over. I mean who could have seen a revival of 70's folk that anyone would actually want to listen to? This is a savvy second coming that sliced away the Velvetta aspects of that musically adventurous age, to retain the soft elegance packaged with the passionate charge. Welcome to the world as seen through the eyes of Martha Wainwright. |
Wainwright you say? Yes this is the sister of everyone's favorite flamboyant troubadour Rufus Wainwright. They each have music coursing through their veins. Their father is Loudon Wainwright III and their mother is Kate McGarrigle. While they aren't necessarily household names like Lennon or Dylan, they still constitute quite a talented family. There isn't a corner in that house that you could escape the music. Now that you've pieced together her distinguished musical pedigree, throw out those preconceived notions that have already started filling your head. Although Martha may borrow her brother's vocal talents on tracks like "The Maker", there are no dots to be connected between her sound and that of her storied family. Instead she sounds like a shuffling of the classic country balladeer Patsy Cline, the potent sting of contemporary Neko Case and the quiet thoughtful grace of Ray LaMontagne. Together it is unquestionably unique, dangerously tempting and strangely beautiful.
Where Rufus drapes all of his songs in lavish production, Martha undresses everything down to its essence so you cannot escape the emotion sliding over her lips. It is very gritty and raw, as she doesn't take the sandpaper to any of the rough edges. This is a lyrically pointed album that keeps sticking you. Whether it is the "chick with a dick" in "Factory" or "she's getting a degree in fucking you" of "Ball and Chain", Wainwright certainly doesn't shy away from telling you how she feels regardless of the controversy it could ignite. Oh and how can I forget the funnily titled tune "Bloody Motherfucking Asshole" (B.M.F.A.) that was lifted from her most recent EP of the same name?
This line-up is about as solid as you can ask for. Each song grabs a hold of this classic folk feel and warps it for its own devices. The result is a roll of film capturing misplaced relationships, the gutters of heartbreak and the shivers of yesterday. "When the Day is Short" is a classic country ballad hung on a quiet strum while Wainwright's voice skips between soft melancholies to swift kicks of a jilted lover. It shows hazy reflections of Roy Orbison at times. "Ball and Chain" is a bear hug of frustration, exhaustion and blind rage. She seems to wrap around you like a massive boa constrictor, choking you to love her. She even goes into shades of Jeff Buckley as she closes the album with the hymn "Whither Must I Wander." The only real lackluster song among these is the aforementioned "B.M.F.A" which seems to spit directly at her father who left the family when she and Rufus were children. Fitting retribution for a man who wrote, "Rufus is a Tit Man" about his young child (oh the irony). "B.M.F.A" certainly has a biting passion to it, yet it's still a bit drab, failing to have the blunt impact of the punch that was thrown. "Ball and Chain" is more of what this track should have been.
"G.P.T." is the North Star guiding this collection of songs. It sounds like a light, fluffy version of Marianne Faithful's "Who Will Take My Dreams Away?" It is basted in lovely kitch that reminds you of Neil Diamond at his best. This song loops, jangles and sashays not caring who sees its drunken dance. It is a fun tune to carry and proves happiness definitely suits Wainwright.
This is an album of peculiar grace and unsheathed emotion. Wainwright takes the sum of her musical heritage and collected influences to create this highly compelling work. It is brimming with a taut intensity displaying candid portrayals of a life lived without strings. Her unique 70's folk flavorings give her the patent on a sound that no one else is exploring right now. Martha Wainwright puts on quite a show, featuring a great musician in the making through her self-titled debut.
Download Martha Wainwright's latest work at iTunes or pick it up on CD at Barnes and Noble. If you want to check it out first, surf on over to her website where you can stream 5 full cuts from the album for free. Also, be sure to tune in for this week's featured track "G.P.T." on Live 365's Innovative Radio.
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