Martha WainwrightCome Home To Mama is a striking album from Canadian songstress Martha Wainwright. Far from being a fluffy, folk outing with huffs and puffs, Wainwright reins in all manner of guest players here: husband and former producer Brad Albetta, Sean Lennon, who also lent his home for the recordings, Wilco's Nels Cline and Dirty Three's Jim White all offer their expertise under the direction of a fairly abstract producer in Yuka Honda to pull together a strongly feminine album that still revels in girlish naiveté and Wainwright's honest insights and black humour.
Firstly, the cover art is darn eye-catching, with an alluring look on an in-the-buff Wainwright's face silhouetted by rainbow outlines. It suggests submissive sexuality but is bolstered by an added dimension in the colours; metaphorically it mirrors the album content perfectly. Wainwright's distinctly mid-range, husky but girlishly-clipped voice stands front and centre on I Am Sorry, growing from the meekly-pouted cracker of a line “The seven-year itch is quite a bitch”. She's got bag loads of similar one-liners, the standout being “I really like the make-up sex, it's the only kind I ever get” on Can You Believe It, with retro pop drums making it sound like a naughty Dusty Springfield b-side. There's some interesting exploration of sonic textures in Radio Star, her staccato vocal delivery hard to ignore over scatty rhythms and obscure '60s-inspired synth pop, as well as in the '80s Billie Jean-esque sass of I Wanna Make An Arrest.
Proserpina is a fitting ode to Wainwright's late mother, singer Kate McGarrigle, and the album highlight is Everything Wrong, the swaying dancefloor number rendered bittersweet with spiteful lyrics.
