CD Review: Martha Wainwright: I Know You’re Married, But I’ve Got Feelings Too

Compared to her flamboyant big brother Rufus, Martha Wainwright always seemed the quiet and demure sibling.

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However, her second album looks set to change that perception forever. The bitter-sweet, folk-tinged navel-gazing of her 2005 debut has given way to a brash and forthright self-confidence, with an operatic delivery that sits somewhere between Rufus and Kate Bush.

This is allied to a vivid, Technicolor expansion of her musical palette that finds her adding rock glitz, torch melodrama and big, bright Blondie-style pop songs to her former troubadourisms.

Yet beneath the newly-acquired flash, the songs pack a real emotional punch too. Star guests including The Band’s Garth Hudson, Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen, Pete Townshend and brother Rufus all contribute to the general air of classiness.