This album has been described as a “bookend to Act One” of Rufus Wainwright’s career, which has so far covered soundtracks, operas and reworkings of Shakespeare’s sonnets. Echoes of each reverberate here, but really, it’s another embrace of the orchestral pop that made him famous.
It’s perfectly preened, with flawless musicianship and Wainwright’s gorgeous, cultivated vocal vibrato. It’s either a low tremor or a towering high — the two are placed one after the other on the flooring crescendo of the title track.
All that sheen makes some songs slippery — Romantical Man is a polished ode to London, but it’s hard to clutch at the heart of its sprawling verses. The sharpest lyrics do manage to cut through, though. On Peaceful Afternoon, dedicated to his husband, Wainwright sings: “Between sex and death and trying to keep the kitchen clean/Remember wild roses bloom best in ruins forever after.”
Still, it’s a relief when the album explores its looser side. Wainwright’s voice becomes a drawl on Early Morning Madness, wallowing in the musical delirium. My Little You, a song for his daughter, feels movingly sincere with its ebbing, almost improvisational piano.
For Wainwright devotees, this album will suffice. Who knows what Act Two entails.
