Zebulon

It is rare to build up so much excitement for an event and then have the event supersede expectations. I was fortunate enough to have one of those moments this week when I purchased Rufus Wainwrights latest album, All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu. Few people can sit at a piano and hold my attention the way he does. His haunting melodies that consume you more and more with each listen...the virtuosic nature of his piano playing, evoking so much more passion and pain than the words could ever convey by themselves. I think that is the beauty of vocal music. I have learned to appreciate both forms on their own; at times becoming consumed by them. There becomes this marriage between lyrics and melody and born from their union is a song. The truly great partnerships sacrifice for one another; each giving the other an opportunity to shine and each considering the other more important than themselves. Perhaps this is a gross over-personification of the matter, but the imagery helps me when I am analyzing the parts and pieces of songs. Anywho, back to Rufus. This new album is not nearly as orchestrated as prior albums. He seem to be hearkening back to more Romantic forms of writing. I think the connection I have to this new album also comes from having performed a senior recital just a couple of weeks ago. From the standpoint of a vocalist, I found that I was able to gain much more of an appreciation for a work when I spent time listening for how the piano accompaniment told the story along with the words that I sang. Rufus captures this interplay perfectly in this album with each song cradled by flourishing piano lines that are as free and breathtaking as his all too perfect voice. As I mentioned to a friend earlier today, I truly envy the way me almost appears to not even breathe when he is singing. As I listen, I sometimes have to remember to breathe myself. I am in the process of trying to expose as many people as I can to this album. In a day an age where layering and extraneous sounds are added to maintain interest, it is truly refreshing to see a contemporary artist use the bare minimum to create a cohesive work that stops time itself when listening to it. So please...go get it...or at least talk to me and obtain. I recommend finding a chair in a library or somewhere else secluded from distraction and soaking all in from start to finish. Brace yourself for the final song, Zebulon...it stopped me dead in my tracks as I was biking to work last night. Stunning...simple stunning. Cheers!