What prompted you to make an album asstripped down as Songs for Lulu?
There are basically three reasons. One is that my fans for years have enjoyedsolo concerts that I’ve given in order to stretch the dollar, as they say, inmy artistic life. I have to work a lot to just live in New York, I guess, so I’ve always done soloconcerts, so it’s always been a sound that’s familiar to my fans. Also, just inmy personal and professional life, this has been the most intense year yet,both with the opera and the death of my mother, so I was juggling these twomassive entities. Me alone at the piano became a kind of refugee, a shield, or acocoon, where I could really just express myself without worrying what othersthought. It was important for me to be alone during these momentous moments.And thirdly, we live in a recessionary time, and everybody’s cutting back, andyou have to tighten the belt. I’m doing the same as everybody else, justcutting back a bit.
Evenwithout the orchestrations, a lot of these pieces are very complex. Were youever tempted to simplify your compositions, as well?
Some of these songs are very simple, whether you look at “A Woman’sFace,” [an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 20, one of three Shakespeare sonnetsWainwright included on the album] or that song “Martha,” but they’re coupledwith the toughest arrangements I’ve ever written. I wanted high peaks and lowvalleys on this album. In order to give it full contrast, I wanted the album tobe a full extension of my abilities.
Wasit a lot faster writing songs without elaborate arrangements?
Without the arrangements they come each at their own speed.Some of them are a flash of inspiration, and some of them are a laboriousexercise … it’s like a child, each child has their own type of birth. Some ofthem, because they’re related to the theatrical projects of my world, be it theopera or the Robert Wilson Shakespeare project, they’ve been floating around inthe ether for a couple years. Others came when my mother was first reallydiagnosed and in the hospital with her illness. I would say “Zebulon” is theearliest song on this album, followed by the theatrical pieces.
Giventhat so many of these songs are about your mother’s illness, why did you opt todedicate the album to your sister, Martha, instead of your mother?
I’ve dedicated an album to my mother already. Once the albumwas released my mother was gone, and I felt that my sisternot that she needsthe encouragement per sebut that she has been such an incredible force ofnature since my mother passed. She really kind of swooped in and grasped the matriarchalmantel of the family, totally effortlessly. We all owe a lot to her in ourfamily for being so together, and so open. Since she became a mother last year,she just really blossomed in a way, and she just really took on a lot ofresponsibility.
You’vecollaborated with your family extensively. Did you ever feel the need todistance yourself from them a bit, to carve out your own identity?
I feel confident enough in my own abilities to go back and forth. Aside from mywork with my family, I’m very deeply entrenched in the opera world and theaterworld and even one could argue in the jazz world, with the Judy Garlandproject, so I’m not bound to any particular regiment that I have to be true to.I’m still taking cracks at the pop world, really. I’ve made some pop sounds andI’ve gotten noticed by the mainstream here and there. But I’ve never trulyconquered the charts and that for any songwriter is one of the main goals. SoI’m still eyeing that possibility, especially for the next album. Especiallyfor the next record, I’d like to dumb it down a bit, and be a little less arty.
It seems you’ve been marketed more as a “high-culture” artist. Doesthat make it difficult to cross over into the pop world?
Well, I have been in that world. I was in Rolling Stone magazine as a best newartist, and Elton John is a great supporter of mine. I’ve been nominated for aGrammy, so that is my territory. I’ve done radio breakfasts and stuff likethat, and so the pop world is actually where I’m based, but it’s hard to have afoot in both worlds in America.The truth is I’m very big in England.I’m a pretty big celebrity in England.In England, and in mostEurope you can do both, but in Americait has to be much more compartmentalized. For some reason, in America, theycan’t conceive of shifting gears. It’s always been that way.
Sowhat would a Rufus Wainwright pop album sound like?
Well, something you can dance to. And something you can cryto, too. I’ll be working with another producer.
Doyou already know who?
[Laughs] Yes, but I’m not saying.
Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwrightshare an 8 p.m. bill at the Pabst Theater on Tuesday, Aug. 10.
Photo by Kevin Westenberg
