Album Review: Martha Wainwright - Come Home To Mama

Martha Wainwright's dramatic vocals are the result of justified talent, confidence and swagger, and her new album simply finds another home for them. Kicked off beautifully with I Am Sorry, she sings about a 'seven year itch', but here why she's sorry doesn't need to be spelt out any further. The cheeky theme is continued into the next song Can You Believe It, which begins “I really like make-up sex/It's the only kind I get” – Martha, my dear, say it ain't so! The album does continue this type of play – and in that way serves as a great support to her last effort in 2008, I Know You're Married But I Have Feelings Too – however in both cases the offering is clearly too outrageous to be played straight down the line.

Where this breaks is the lullaby Proserpina, a cover of a song written by Wainwright's late mother Kate McGarrigle just before she died – it's sad, yes, but a completely enchanting tribute. Hang in 'til the end for a significant and interesting gear change with All Your Clothes, a relatively plan performance that lets Wainwright show her ability while just floating a bit; while finale Everything Wrong is open-mouthed and so simple it's staggering – with endearing unapologetic honesty like her Dad Loudon Wainwright's One Man Guy, but decidedly less self-obsessed. Addressed to the next chapter of the dynasty, infant son Arcangelo, she promises to “not lie and not cry too much in front of you”. It's part nursery rhyme, part new folk song, and perhaps part new direction? Here's to more as she, and the new clan, develop.