Wainwright's voice can be as big as a lioness' roar or as close as a kiss on the neck, and she uses it fearlessly in musical arrangements that are both pop-wise and delightfully strange. Produced by Wainwright's bassist and new groom, Brad Albetta, "I Know You're Married," like "Evil Urges," doesn't fit easily into one category. It's too audacious to classify as adult contemporary, too sophisticated for indie, too enamored of cabaret to be country, too loud to be soft rock.
Bold contradiction is the existential state that the 32-year-old Wainwright now unapologetically claims, putting aside years of occasional brilliance marred by a seeming fear of overdoing it. At the edge of too much, she uncovers the meaningful stories of women's lives. Starting with the album title, which acknowledges -- no, celebrates -- petulant and deeply inappropriate yearnings (and, even better, comes from a song called "Bleeding All Over You"), Wainwright makes a stand for not hiding. Though her lyrics can be poetic, she's not crafting bon mots over cosmopolitans. She's searching for the best way to tackle feelings and situations that would be easier to dodge.
