Rufus Wainwright
Poses (Dreamworks)
Talking about Rufus Wainwright, we find ourselves slightly mortified. We’re wondering why more people don’t listen to him, and what we can do to help the cause. We should inform you that Loudon Wainwright’s little boy is still singing about death, when being gay is about not letting on that one day death will happen. Then again, singing about death (among other things) on his 1998 eponymous debut garnered him Best New Artist in Rolling Stone that year, and look what that did for him — it landed him a spot singing on a Gap commercial, but it still didn’t net enough listeners to satisfy those of us who feel adamant about sharing him. Here’s why we’re that way: Like his debut, Poses is complex, personal, dark, hopeful, and thoroughly sing-alongable. On “Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk,” the most radio-friendly track on Poses, our troubadour confesses to liking things “a little bit sweeter, a little bit fatter, a little bit harmful” and not mending his ways. Sometimes, Rufus, we don’t know what you’re talking about, as in “Greek Song,” where you advise us, “Don’t sew beelines to anybody’s hide, save your poison for a lover who is on your side,” but we sure like the driven, cautionary sound of your voice as you tell it to us. “I’m looking for the tower of learning, I’m looking for the copious prize,” he sings in “The Tower of Learning” with typical aplomb, and we think he may have attained it.
This article appears in July 27 • 2001.