Martha Wainwright: Martha Wainwright : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

If you think Rufus Wainwright possesses an uncommonly expressive voice, check out his sister. On Martha Wainwright's debut album, the New York-based singer-songwriter attacks her songs with harrowing desperation. Wainwright exudes hard-core drama over finely detailed soft rock, drawing from her folkie parents Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III but also from theatrical operatic warblers, French chanson weepers, jazz-cabaret crooners, country cornballs and acid-throated alt-rockers -- without sounding like anyone in particular. She's not easy-listening: Martha hisses and purrs, fearlessly articulating anxiety with a lurid charisma. More concerned with emotion and atmosphere than with big hooks and tunes, hazy songs like "Far Away" charm with pleasant surfaces and bitter insides, and when Rufus harmonizes on "The Maker," queasy bliss ensues. Dissatisfaction should always be this sweet.