Martha Wainwright CD

Personnel: Martha Wainwright (vocals, guitar, electric guitar, background vocals); Martha Wainwright; Brad Albetta (electric guitar, Fender Rhodes piano, keyboards, bass instrument, upright bass, programming); Cameron Grider, J.C. Hopkins, Cameron Greider (electric guitar); Kate McGarrigle (banjo, piano); Erin Hill (harp); Garth Hudson (alto saxophone, organ, keyboards); Paul Bryan (keyboards); Jeff Hill (bass instrument); Dan Reiser (drums); Alan Bezozi (percussion); Disco D (drum programming); Rufus Wainwright (vocals); Jane Scarpantoni (cello); Tom Mennier (piano, Wurlitzer organ, keyboards, background vocals); Joe McGinty (piano, keyboards); Bill Dobrow (drums); Lily Lanken (background vocals).
Audio Mixers: Brad Albetta; Brian Fulk.
Recording information: Allaire Studios, Shokan, NY; Globe Studios, New York, NY; Mission Sound, NY; Monkey boy Studios, New York, NY.
Photographer: Ken Schles.
Arranger: Rufus Wainwright.
After teasing listeners with the enigmatic Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole EP earlier in the year, singer/songwriter Martha Wainwright comes clean with a lush, eponymous debut that should secure herself a place as one of the genre's finest young practitioners. BMFA, despite its headline-grabbing title, showed an artist of considerable depth and vision, attributes that she builds on tenfold with her first foray into full-length territory. Wainwright tears through words the way her mother, Kate McGarrigle, does, inserting mischievous pauses, experimenting with cadences, or sometimes just pulling the phrase out like a wad of taffy, while all of the while in complete control of the overall narrative. On the gorgeous opener, "Far Away," she waxes nostalgic for old friends and lovers. Backed by swirling guitars and piano she pines "I have no children/I have no husband/I have no reason to be alive/Oh give me one" without seeming the least bit ruined -- a poetic knack that she uses effectively throughout the record's entirety. It's a brave and delicate way to begin, and it engages the listener immediately with its subtle balance of voyeurism and wistfulness. "G.P.T." and "Factory" pick up the pace a bit, showcasing Wainwright's deft melodicism and mischievous nature -- the latter is in full effect on the raunchy "Ball & Chain" -- and "Don't Forget" and "These Flowers," two achingly beautiful ballads that bring to mind early Joni Mitchell, round out a first half that's awfully hard to top. Despite a couple of questionable midtempo offerings, Wainwright manages to keep the quality high, with a lovely duet with brother Rufus ("The Maker") and the aforementioned "BMFA," which is far more bold and beautiful than the title suggests, before closing with an intimate and affecting rendition of Vaughan Williams' "Whither Must I Wander." Wainwright's got all of the familial genes that make a child of music destined for success, but it's her fierce nature -- whether saucy and confident or just plain wrecked -- that makes every twist and turn of this impressive debut so easy to fall in love with. ~ James Christopher Monger
As the daughter of Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, and the sister of Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright comes from quite a musical family. This self-titled debut album makes good on the promise of her pedigree, with elements of her parents' folk-based singer/songwriter-isms, and her brother's flair for impassioned delivery and the occasional dramatic flourish. Yet Wainwright builds her own branch on the family tree, with richly detailed songs that display a great expressive range, packing images and incisive reflections into melodies that are whimsical, haunting, and memorable, often all at once.
The plaintive, desperate scenes of "Far Away" float along on a languid, dreamy melody a la the Beatles, mirroring songs like "Factory," in which lyrics full of paranoid anxiety are couched in expansive tunes and lush instrumentation. Even at her most tender, as on "These Flowers" or the cUncut (p.96) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[A] record packed with brilliant, bohemian songs that combine affecting lyrical honesty, beguiling melodies and a voice that has a touch of Alanis Morissette mixed with a gentler inheritance from her mother and aunt..."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.108) - 4 stars out of 5 - "Soothing, strident or Joplin-raw by turns, her voice pilots unchained melodies, and healthy, intergenerational competition with her own flesh and blood has clearly pushed her to burnish her detailed confessionals."