MIDDLE-AGE is generally not viewed as a creative hot streak for musicians. Particularly those happily married and enjoying the domestic bliss of fatherhood.
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However, Rufus Wainwright has proven that the outdated stereotype deserves to be trashed along with many of the other misconceptions in pop culture applied to those over 40.
Unfollow The Rules marks the Canadian-American singer-songwriter's long-awaited return to his trademark baroque pop sound, following a rewarding foray into the classical world.
And what a pleasing return it is. All the Wainwright flourishes are here; lush instrumentation, soaring vocals imbued with emotion and unmistakable fun. You can almost hear Wainwright smiling on the honky tonk blues-flavoured You Ain't Big.
That's not something you could write about the 46-year-old's earlier albums, where he was tortured by his perfectionism, substance abuse and the pressure to live up to the lofty expectations created by being the son of folk legends Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle.
The album opens with the energetic pop of Trouble In Paradise and Damsel In Distress before the mood mellows on the breath-taking title track. In fact, the song Unfollow The Rules sits firmly among Wainwright's greatest.
After building the track with gentle piano and subtle strings, the song explodes as Wainwright sings "Don't give me what I want/ Give me what I need/Unfollow the rules."
Peaceful Afternoon, a love song for his husband Jorn Weisbrodt, is another lush folk-pop piece built around a soaring chorus.
Unfollow The Rules, however, isn't all happiness. Early Morning Madness is a brooding piano about addiction, driven by off-kilter drums and maniac strings and Hatred is a theatrical declaration of anger at the modern world.
Wainwright has described Unfollow The Rules as the final chapter in the first act of his career before he takes his music into a new direction. If that's the case, it's a finale worthy of his undeniable talent.
4 STARS