"I'm just a little bit heiress, a little bit Irish, a little bit tower of Pisa," croons Rufus Wainwright on 'Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk', a statement that's hard to argue with, if only because it's so cryptic. More prosaically, Wainwright's genes were assembled from illustrious folkie parents Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle (last heard on Nick Cave's 'No More Shall We Part').
Those expecting dusty confessionals over sparse acoustic guitar are in for a shock, however. Rufus Wainwright's take on the singer-songwriter schtick is camper and more baroque, with him sat behind a grand piano amidst a warped updating of old Broadway. 'Poses', his second terrific album, is a collection of 12 songs in search of a musical; arch tales that mingle snapshots of boho life ("Now I'm drunk and wearing flip-flops on Fifth Avenue," he notes memorably on the title track) with arch allusions to courtly love.
Wainwright dreams of princes and Paris, formulates his ideals of beauty, and sets them to expansive and theatrical music with the flair of Harry Nilsson circa 'Aerial Ballet'. His collaborators include former flatmate and Hole/Smashing Pumpkins bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur, Teddy Thompson (another folk brat, being Richard and Linda Thompson's son), superstar drummers Jim Keltner and Pete Thomas and, incongruously, Alex Gifford of the Propellerheads.
But really, this is Wainwright's spangled vision, one that's cosmetically-enhanced but profoundly affecting. The best trip uptown to see the lights you'll have this year - or at least until Mercury Rev release the extravagant fantasia of 'All Is Dream', anyway.
