Want One harkens back to Wainright’s self-titled debut vs. his sophomore rock album. His nasal lyrics glide through phrases in a dreamy love-song style. Instead of drawing straight from the piano, this album is grounded in a mellow synthesizer, with plenty of orchestral strings, choral backing, and mild noise effects. He also incorporates all sorts of random instruments – including a xylophone and a horns section. Horns can be a bad decision, but not in this case. This album feels ridiculously produced, but not overly. It goes for a certain eclectic sound and it works. In more ways than one, this sounds like a modern rock opera/show tune – it has that sort of continuity. As far as lyrics go, it is fine – nothing shocking – overall: nice, playful, and melancholy – it feels like a modern take on New York City that pays homage to Sinatra. There really isn’t anyone else doing what Rufus is doing, which makes his sound fresh in an appealing sort of way.
-Matt M.

* Play this song
1. Down tempo and mellow – begins with choral chants and then a playful tuba bass line. Has this grandiose dreamy circus flavor, but not in a way that might make you think of clowns, which would ruin any song.
2. *Mid-tempo – breezy tune with a nice hook. The simple “back and forth” baseline reminds me of silly techno-Mexican folk music.
3. Slow – more sparse – very synthesizerish.
4. Up-tempo – pounding rock rhythm – guitars.
5. Ballad – real piano – solo. Nice and simple, pretty.
6. *Ballad that builds – slow strumming acoustic guitar – some nice electronic sounds and odd backing fluttering vocals. ½ mark – full band – electric guitar. The backing vocals get intense.
7. Down-tempo – plucking bass and strings guide the song. Dreamy again. Incorporates Brittany Spears in the lyrics, which sticks out. Showtunish.
8. Up-tempo - Bluesy – Choral backing sounds gospel like. Horns build until it turns into a horn song.
9. Ballad – Xylophone and strings – pretty love song for Natasha.
10. Down-beat. Dragging jazz rhythm. A mellow trumpet mixed with trombone fills a solo phrase and lingers.
11. Up-beat – mellow tribal rhythm. Horns – trilling over-the-top trumpet. A real production.
12. Down-tempo – piano, synthesizer and guitar. Melancholy lament – Boozey. A little long winded at 5:10.
13. *Steady-Rocker – starts out like a gentle U2 song. Everything he tries works well. Cool song.
14. *Dreamy building ballad – real piano with strings, oboe, and a harp – sweepingly romantic, like people should be dancing somewhere.