 | Story of purity versus change part 2:
A haunting album mixing pop with operatic vocals, classical snippets and folk rock. The first time I heard this was in a Barned and Noble, at first it reminded me of the Beach Boys, then John Denver, then Radiohead...at first, I was annoyed, then intrigued. I couldn't place it musically, and I didn't like it, but then I did. (The first song, "Oh, What A World, is a vocal musing about straight men reading fashion magazines over an arrangement of Ravel's Bolero.) By the sixth song,
"Go or Go Ahead", I had to go and ask who was singing. The song brings me close to tears.
What is interesting about Wainwright is the direction of his musical styles in light of his family. Wainwright's parents are folk rocker legends Louden Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle. Like the character in the movie RUNNING FOR EMPTY, young Rufus would find himself at odds with his parent's attempts to keep him limited to the family business of "poor people's music" while stifling his "escape" into opera. Topping that battle with the added burden of coming out of the closet, Wainwright's unlikely success is the result of staying true to himself. |
