Album: Rufus Wainwright

In the manner of previous albums such as Poses and Want 2, Rufus Wainwright is all a-swoon throughout much of Release the Stars, exulting in the unrequited desire of "Tiergarten", frothing with romantic anticipation in "Sanssouci", or wallowing in the self-denial of "Leaving For Paris".

As before, Wainwright brings his own slightly dangerous tone to his love songs. He's brutally unrepentant, in the billet-doux to a one-night stand in "Tulsa", about trampling on the sensitivities of a "fat guy" bystander; and in "Between My Legs", he elevates love to apocalyptic levels, fantasising about escaping with his lover via an underground river as the world above is destroyed by war: against his desire, he suggests, the rest of humanity counts for nothing. Well, at least he's honest.

The most startling expression of his singular romantic world-view comes in the album opener "Do I Disappoint You", shifting from aloofness to simple antipathy ("Why does it always have to be holy wine/ Destruction/ Of all mankind") and to more violent revelations like "I'm gonna smash your bloody skull". As throughout the album, it's draped in a grandiose orchestral arrangement whose momentum tracks the accelerating emotional intensity of the song. Reprised again at the end of the album, its blending of dramatic percussion flourishes, woodwind and brass recalls the instrumental tracks on Pet Sounds, which gives some indication of the height at which he and executive producer Neil Tennant have set the bar for Release the Stars.

Elsewhere, the exotic is employed as a matter of course, with marimba and rhythmic breathing underscoring "Tiergarten" and harp and flute carrying "Sanssouci", the most engaging melody here. On "Nobody's Off The Hook", the singer reflects upon the impact of a perhaps gender-confused star: "Who would ever have thought/ Hanging with a homo and hairdresser/ You would become the one desired in every woman's heart?". As with the celebrity subject of "Tulsa", Wainwright offers no hints as to their identities.

The subject of "Going to a Town" is not so well hidden, involving as it does Wainwright's pointed questioning of supposed American "virtues", both in its spiteful attitude towards homosexuality ("Do you really think you go to hell for having loved... and not for thinking everything that you've done is good?"), and more generally in its posturing on the world stage. "You took advantage of a world that loved you well," he notes astutely, before concluding, "I'm so tired of you America". Although being half-Canadian, that probably goes without saying.

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