Rufus Wainwright “Want Two” (2004)
I have always enjoyed grandiosity and cinematic ‘scope’ in music, but
Rufus Wainwright was almost too much for me in this respect! I heard
his album “Release the Stars” playing in a music store back when I was
living in the UK and was instantly hooked. If memory serves I picked up
a copy that same day.
While I loved Rufus’ mix of orchestra and choir with his melodic
songcraft, I found that the album was actually so musically
overwhelming that I couldn’t listen to "Release the Stars" more than
once a week. In the intervening years of course, I’ve gotten onto so
many other albums/artists that it gets even less time.
From the opening track of “Want Two” (companion piece to Wainwright’s
previous release “Want One”) I thought it might be more of the same, as
Wainwright’s high, powerful voice vibrates over swirling string
arrangements. The next two tracks though pare things back nicely, with
melodic tracks featuring interesting, yet relatively restrained
arrangements. “Peach Trees” in particular features lovely harmonised backing vocals that complement the song without overpowering it.
“The Art Teacher” tells a gentle tale of unrequited love for one’s
educator. “Gay Messiah” mixes country music (not always a genre known
for its forward-thinking ideas on homosexuality) with a sort of gospel
vibe. The album ends on the lengthy but not overly ostentatious “Old Whore’s Diet”.
I’m hard-pushed to say how I’d rate this against “Release the Stars” but
I could certainly see revisiting this more than once a week.
