Martha Wainwright - 'Bloody Motherf**king Asshole EP' (Drowned In Sound)
4/5
By: Thomas Hannan
Haven't heard brother Rufus. Heard father Loudon III and wasn't impressed. Heard Martha - loved it.
Don't take this as a rockfeedback-wide policy on the Wainwright clan (fellow scribe Kevin Molloy raves about both the former), nor an attempt to slag off the entire family. It's merely mentioned because Martha Wainwright will be known thus far more for her name than her talent, a misdemeanour we'll try and address. To enjoy this Wainwright requires no knowledge, let alone appreciation, of her family ties.
Some people just swear brilliantly, and Martha's one of them. But far from pointless angst, the title-track contains some beautiful, forlorn anger - a feeling few others have ever purveyed quite so successfully. The rest of it maintains a remarkable ground between these feelings of fury and delicacy - the desolate 'I Will Internalize', contrasting to brilliant effect with the crunching, tormenting wails of 'It's Over', for example. A closing 'How Soon' has us so entranced we feel as if we've been greedily suppin' whiskey while listening to Martha croon away on the piano in the corner of a bar in some Western film for some time now. Lovely.
It's brilliantly produced (there are multiple instruments all over it and somehow you still come away from it feeling like you've just listened to the innermost thoughts of one woman and an acoustic guitar), masterfully performed and earnestly sincere. Meet your new favourite Wainwright.
Artists in this article: Martha Wainwright
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