Martha Wainwright - I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got Feelings Too

Martha Wainwright and I immediately started off on the wrong foot. Her second full-length album, I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got Feelings Too, immediately pissed me off with its title alone. Being an objective reviewer, I tried to look past the album title, but then my eyes fell on Martha’s scantily clad body spread across her album cover, and I knew it was going to be a long, long night.

Right off the bat, I was offended that Martha Wainwright (or her label) used using her sexuality and rock hard abs to sell an album. Should her talent and lyrics and music speak for itself? Couldn’t she choose instead to leech of her famous brother, Rufus Wainwright? According to some, Martha’s an artist in her own right, and apparently people like her; I’m not one of them.

Sounding a bit like Leigh Nash on crack, Martha manages to screech though songs with perfectly lovely melodies, ruining them with not only her voice, but her dark lyrics (that is, when the lyrics make sense). For example, “Bleeding All Over You” has a great melody, decent vocals, but horrible lyrics like, “My heart was made for bleeding all over you/I know you’re married but I’ve got feelings too/ I still love you.” Nice, Martha - you’re married, too. I realize this seems irrelevant to Martha who may be channeling the emotion from another place and another time.

And just when it seems like a song’s lyrics are good, the melody is off as in the case with “Love Is A Stranger” and the waltz-like “Tower Song.” It gets even worse when Martha adds unearthly vocals to her music, sounding more like a banshee crying out for a mate than a female singer.

However, “I’m Coming Tonight” and “See Emily Play” aren’t bad songs. Unfortunately, two okay songs can’t carry an entire album, even one with a provocative title. Incidentally, Martha’s really into controversial titles. She released an EP in 2004 called Bloody Mother F**kin’ A**shole. Classy.

I Know You’re Married is a mess—vocally, musically, and lyrically. If Martha Wainwright was trying to make an artsy, experimental album, she failed…miserably.