Rufus Wainwright 'Want One' album

It is a peculiarity of the English language that the most profound human emotions are conveyed in the simplest of words - words like love, hate, find, lose, save, kill, need, want. Rufus Wainwright chose the last of these resonant four-letter words as the title for his third album. "I called the record 'Want,'" he says, "because it sums up what I want."

Wainwright's album is actually titled Want One, which (along with whatever metaphorical notions the words suggest) indicates that this album is the first of two installments. Its projected companion, Want Two, will encompass the remainder of the tracks recorded for this project.
"Want One [due Sept. 23, 2003, on DreamWorks Records] is a presentable, accessible entity," Wainwright explains. "Want Two will have some of the more daunting tracks, the operatic, weird stuff, some heavy numbers that relate to my classical sensibilities." Not that the initial volume eschews the daunting, the weird or the heavy, all of which have emerged as distinctive arrows in Wainwright's ambitious, gloriously stylish musical quiver.

The singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist elaborates: "This album really made itself; it commanded its own parameters. My first record took three years to make; the second took a year and a half. This one took six months, and during that time we were able to cut 30 tracks. Want One has a good balance of the maze I tend to wind people around. And it was a fun record to make. A lot of it was made just jamming, so it's sort of laid back as well."

Nonetheless, Wainwright's legion of fans will recognize the careful execution of craft that made Rufus Wainwright (1998) and Poses (2001) indelible: the elegant orchestrations, some evoking at least two bygone centuries; the multi-tracked vocals, often stacked as high as a wedding cake; the thematic complexities inherent in all of the aforementioned four-letter words.

Of course, Wainwright's work is unique among the artists of his generation - and, in fact, unlike anything currently orbiting the pop universe. But he has consistently managed to find eager allies, specialists equipped to help him realize his singular vision. His debut album featured contributions from esteemed composer/musicologist Van Dyke Parks; Poses bore the stamp of longtime Wainwright collaborator Pierre Marchand (also known for his work with Sarah McLachlan) and boasted arrangements by composer Damian le Gassick.

"I attempt to get the most out of every possible creative situation that I can," Wainwright allows. "I tend to be a sponge."

DreamWorks Records principal Lenny Waronker (who signed Wainwright) suggested that Marius deVries - highly respected for his work with Bj?rk, Massive Attack, Madonna and David Bowie - produce the third album. This time around, orchestral arrangements came courtesy of deVries, Chris Elliott, Maxim Moston and Wainwright himself. Among the other artists lending their skills: guitarists Charlie Sexton and Gerry Leonard; guitarist/pianist Jimmy Zhivago; drummers Levon Helm, Matt Johnson and Sterling Campbell; bassists Jeff Hill and Bernard O'Neill; and backing vocalists Martha Wainwright (Rufus' sister), Jenny Muldaur, Linda Thompson and Teddy Thompson. Kate McGarrigle, Wainwright's mother, played the banjo and accordion.

"When I made Poses, I was thinking about it all the time and agonizing over it," Wainwright reveals. "With the new record, I tried to make a point to not think about it and not agonize over it and just let it flow. But that is easier said than done. It seems you have to go through the beating-a-dead-horse thing before you can just let go, let it come out. A lot of that is faith, and I think you can't really have faith until your beliefs have been completely destroyed and you are just feeling your way."

Once they got started, the Want sessions moved along at a gratifying clip, but before he could even begin the project, Wainwright says, "I had to put my house in order."
"On September 11, I was on tour and not really thinking about what was going on in my life or the rest of the world," he confides. "Then there was a year of shock for everyone. After that, I went back to New York and moved into the first apartment I've ever really had. I was going to have a decadent, wine-and-roses summer. But it just didn't go that way. I hit this major depression and eventually found myself having to sink or swim. I was approaching 30, and I felt I'd hit that age where I was either gonna go down one path and self-destruct or go down the other path and survive. I had to really look at my life and figure out what sustains me beyond music, beyond show business. So I just stopped the world and got off."

After several intensive months spent wrestling his demons - teasing out the subtle distinctions between what he wants and what he needs - a newly clear-headed Wainwright was ready to jump back into the fray. On their most basic level, the Want songs are about the struggle to find one's bearings.

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Rufus Wainwright - Want One