I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too [Bonus Track]

Personnel: Martha Wainwright (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, hand claps, background vocals); Tore Johansson (vocals, guitar); Kate McGarrigle (vocals, Wurlitzer organ, hand claps, background vocals); Lily Lanken (vocals, background vocals); Rufus Wainwright (vocals); Martin Terefe (guitar, electric guitar); Cameron Greider (electric guitar, nylon-string guitar); Jeff Trott, Jim Campilongo, Pete Townshend, Smokey Hormel (electric guitar); Chaim Tannenbaum (mandolin); Maxim Moston (violin); Julia Kent (cello); Doug Wieselman (bass clarinet, tenor saxophone); Mark McGowan (trumpet); Brad Albetta (piano, Fender Rhodes piano, Wurlitzer organ, electric bass, drums, hand claps, drum programming, background vocals); Garth Hudson (piano, keyboards); Anna McGarrigle (keyboards, synthesizer, background vocals); Claes Björklund (keyboards); Donald Fagen, Joe McGinty (synthesizer); Bill Dobrow (drums, percussion); Peter Lindgard, Matt Johnson , Dan Reiser, Richard Pagano, Alex Toff (drums); Marius de Vries (drum programming); Kamila Thompson (background vocals).
Audio Mixers: Ger McDonnell; Michael Brauer; Mike Hedges; Tore Johansson.
Recording information: Allaire Studios, Shokan, NY; Gula Studio, Malmo, Sweden; Kensaltown Recording Studios, London, England; Mayk Music (Studios), Laurentides, Quebec, Canada; MonkeyBoy Studios, Brooklyn, NY; Querbes Service, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Studio Frisson, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; The Bubble, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Photographer: Sam Taylor-Wood.
As strong as Martha Wainwright's self-titled debut album was, her second full-length effort, I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too, feels like a dazzling surprise, surpassing the first record in artistry and ambition and offering an even more striking picture of her talents. Wainwright's songwriting is every bit as strong on this collection as on her first album (no small achievement), and her skill at defining a character in words is impressive indeed, with uneven relationships dominating but not entirely defining the many people Wainwright brings to life here. As a singer, she's gone from strength to strength on I Know You're Married; sounding like some remarkable fusion of Kate Bush, Patti Smith, and Kate McGarrigle (the latter happens to be her mom), Wainwright has learned how to draw out the drama from songs like "Comin' Tonight," "Bleeding All Over You," and "The George Song," though she's intelligent enough to do so without sinking into melodrama. And while several different producers worked on this album (most notably Brad Alberta and Martin Terefe), the results have a rich, unified sound and feeling, with Wainwright's powerhouse vocals luring the spotlight from a talented team of studio collaborators (including Pete Townshend, Donald Fagen, Garth Hudson, and Martha's brother Rufus) and meshing with arrangements that gracefully go from the spare to the grandiose. While much has been made of Martha Wainwright's place in a family of very talented musicians, I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too is the work of a singer and songwriter who stands in no one's shadow and has fashioned a striking voice of her own, and that voice is in full and fascinating flight here. [This edition includes a bonus track.] ~ Mark Deming