Rufus Wainwright: the albums of his life

There are a host of influences in the ninth album of Rufus Wainwright, Unfollow the Rules. We think of Elton John, Frank Sinatra, but also Joni Mitchell, to whom his compatriot pays a tribute on “Damsel in Distress”. Wainwright has known her for a short time and fell in love with the folk priestess of Laurel Canyon.

Which does not prevent him from asserting today the singularity of his music, both cabaret pop and explosive folk, ultra-emotional and distanced, like in a musical. After writing his second opera, Hadrian, premiered in 2018 at the Four Seasons Centre, the singer and multi-instrumentalist set about what he considers his “quarantine album” – worn with brilliance. Married since 2012 to Jörn Weisbrodt, father of a daughter he had with Lorca Cohen, the daughter of Leonard, now based in Los Angeles, Wainwright says he has found a certain form of serenity, even if he “judges the world as distressing as it actually is”.

The best remedy? Listen to the songs of Unfollow the Ruleswhich Rufus Wainwright envisages as “a way to combat the ambient gloom without forgetting to think about what is happening around us”a record that goes against the grain of today's urban and synthetic trends and is stunningly timeless. Like the music that has always accompanied him, or almost, and which he spoke to us about during a visit to Paris, just before confinement.