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Martha Wainwright
You could call 29-year-old Martha Wainwright the late bloomer of the Wainwright/McGarrigle clan. Yes, she's daughter of Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, sister of Rufus Wainwright. It's almost unfortunate to think of her with all this family baggage attached because she totally deserves your full and undivided attention on her own merits.
I was pleasantly surprised to find Martha's first EP, a self-titled effort from 1999, in the recent acqusitions pile at Austin's amazing used CD emporium Cheapo sometime in late 2000. Martha has the characteristic Wainwright inflection and tone on that recording; the same nascent chamber pop sensibilities of Rufus' early work. There's lots of minor keys, string arrangements, literary references ("Lolita"), and autobiographical confessions ("Laurel and Hardy" seems a response to Rufus' "Little Sister" -- or perhaps it's the other way around).
I loved what I heard on the EP and waited patiently for a full-length album, but none ever appeared. Instead, Martha appeared in a supporting role on an array of albums produced by various family members, released another EP, Factory, and appeared as a torch singer in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator alongside Loudon and Rufus. (Outside of Jude Law's blink-and-you'll-miss-it turn as Errol Flynn, the appearance of la famille Wainwright as singers at Hollywood's mythical Coconut Grove was the best part of that otherwise ho-hum film.)
Her latest EP, Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole (released in 2004) is a blistering prelude to her upcoming (finally!) full-length record due out later this year. Her voice has matured from a feminine shadow of Rufus' full-throated warble to a shredded, yet powerful and delicate-around-the-edges rasp that is, though slightly reminiscent of Bette Midler's circa the bathhouse years, all her own. Martha's songwriting has followed suit as well. She can spit out a polite yet scathing rant like the EP's opening title track "BMFA" and close the proceedings with a torchy number like "How Soon," and it all seems perfectly natural and not incongruous in the slightest.
Martha Wainwright - Lolita
Martha Wainwright - Laurel and Hardy
Martha Wainwright - BMFA
Martha Wainwright - I Will Internalize
Martha Wainwright - How Soon
Martha Wainwright - I'll Be Seeing You (from The Aviator)
Martha Wainwright's offical website. Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole is available from Amazon. A full-length album is due later in 2005 on Zoe/Rounder Records.
Posted by Little Miss Rock'n'Roll at 02.14.05 at 2:15 AM
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