Martha Wainwright is beginning again. The beguiling performer and songwriter makes a most welcome return with Love Will Be Reborn, her first new album in five years, released today on Pheromone Records/Cooking Vinyl.
It’s her first album since 2016’s ‘Goodnight City’, and the first since 2012’s acclaimed ‘Come Home To Mama’ to feature so much original material. All eleven songs on ‘Love Will Be Reborn’ are written by Martha. She wrote the first song, and what would become the title track, a few years ago in what was a very dark time for her personally.
The title track ‘Love Will Be Reborn’ is out today and hints at the ache of recent years while capturing a sense of optimism for the future. She wraps her wondrous, trademark vocals around the heartbreak to dizzying effect.
“I wrote the song in its entirety within ten or fifteen minutes,” she admits.” I was bawling,”
Trying something new and truly challenging herself on this single, Martha explains:
Falaise de malaise is a first for me! Not only is it in "Franglais" (a mix of English and French) but I’m actually playing the piano - which I don’t actually know how to do! I've been sitting at the piano for years trying to find a song for the simple piano part that my fingers could play. While doing this I thought, well might as well try writing in French too! I was able to tap into another version of myself - one that was dying to come out. I’ve always sung in French (Piaf record and various covers..) but this is the first time I’ve allowed myself to compose in it. I’ve always watched others move to the music at the 88 keys but this time I sat down to play them myself. What came out was “Falaise de Malaise" - a dreamlike romp through a mythological landscape.
Like most records this year, Love Will Be Reborn was made during the global pandemic and recorded in Wainwright’s hometown of Montreal, in the basement of her brand-new cafe, Ursa which also served as a studio. She enlisted the help of Toronto musicians Thom Gill, Phil Melanson, Morgan Moore and Josh Cole to perform in her band, and producer Pierre Marchand, best-known for his collaborations with Sarah McLachlan producing some of her iconic 90s songs. Marchand also has a familial connection to Wainwright, having produced her brother Rufus’s second album poses as well as Wainwright’s mother and aunt’s record, Heartbeats Accelerating. It was a record made after some time, much like Wainwright’s gap since 2016’s Goodnight City, and McGarrigle was the same age that Wainwright is now. It seems like a musical synergy only the late McGarrigle and Wainwright could have.
