I WILL
INTERNALIZE • Martha Wainwright
Seeing,
or just listening to Martha Wainwright sing and play is a very primal
experience. Whether she is whispering or wailing, she is coming at you
with absolutely everything she is. It's like someone removes the screen
between your essence and theirs and shines their light right in your eyes
and fills your ears with a beautiful sound.
These
Wainwrights--such genius, such freedom in the way they approach lyrics,
and especially melody. I learn so much every time I listen to them, and
more when I open up completely to the sound, when I surrender to the place
where both Martha and Rufus are coming from. And they're very different
places, for sure, but they have similar effects on my body and soul.
The other
mastermind behind this outlandish record is Brad Albetta, a bass maestro
and co-owner of Monkey Boy Studios in Tribeca, NYC, where much of this
record went down. He has worked with a long list of greats, and co-produced
the classic Willie Nile record, Beautiful Wreck
of the World.
I
Will Internalize is a dynamite 5-song EP. You can wait to buy it in
the U.S., or be as impulsive about the W's as this listener and buy it
from the lovely Canadians at Maple Music. The first and title song features
the soaring quality of the artist's voice, the second she is shredding,
cracking impeccably every third note, on "Baby." "Bring Back My Heart"
is a big slow ballad that co-producer Albetta (with Martha and Rufus)
and engineer Brian Fulk got a huge acoustic guitar sound on to support
the vocals of Martha, Rufus, and their mellifluous cousin Lily Lanken.
(You can also hear this trio on The McGarrigle
Christmas Hour.)
My favorite
is "New York, New York, New York." The near cacophonous contributions
of Duke McVinnie's guitar canvases and Doug Weiselmans' bass clarinet
blending with the rain and the traffic, served up on a cymbal tray by
drummer George Javori, underpin the romance superbly. On the closer, in
a beautiful song rendered and written by French chanson legend Barbara,
Martha sings in French, passionately accompanied by her mother Kate McGarrigle
on piano and Albetta on upright bass. This unbelievable cut was produced
and recorded by Pierre Marchand at his barn in Quebec.
Buy this
record if you're looking for the powerful undeniable essence of an artist
who bares it all as soon as she looks in your direction and opens her
beautiful mouth. You couldn't reduce this to background music if you turned
it all the way down. There is simply too much juice going on. We think
she's amazing.
• Frank Goodman
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