Personnel includes: Rufus Wainwright (vocals, guitar, piano); Jeff Hill, Damian Legassick (guitar, keyboards, programming); Julie Dupras (violin); Melissa Auf Der Maur (bass); Butch, Kevin Hupp, Michael Vincent Chaves (drums); Alex Gifford. Producers include: Pierre Marchand, Alex Gifford, Damian Legassick, Ethan Johns, Damian Legassick. When Rufus Wainwright first appeared on the music scene, the public was startled not only by the fact that this son of legendary musicians (a McGarrigle Sister and papa Loudon) was a true artist in his own right, but that he had a sound that set him so far apart from any of his contemporaries. Wainwright's second record POSES doesn't need to blaze any new stylistic ground since he's already so distinctively operating in his own furrow. The album pretty much picks up where its predecessor left off, offering elaborate, piano-based melodies that owe more to Tin Pan Alley (or at their most modern, Brian Wilson) than to any contemporaneous trend. The arrangements are rich with unusual harmonies, which serve Wainwright's unusual voice and lyrics extremely well. His high, keening tenor lets loose a torrent of self-effacing lyrics that examine his own place in the world with a cynic's mind and a believer's heart. The cynic, represented mostly by the witty turns of phrase, spends most of POSES battling it out with the believer, given voice by the lustrous melodic turns. Here's hoping they keep their aesthetically rewarding conflict going for a long time to come.

• Genre: Pop
• Format: Vinyl
• Released: 5/06/2016