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Rufus Wainwright catches up wtih Time Out editor Joel Meares 

“Most people will know a little bit about Rufus Wainwright, arguably the most talented of the musically blessed Montreal dynasty that includes dad Loudon, mum Kate McGarrigle and sister Martha. You might have come across the story of his coming out at 13. And recall reading about the rape in London’s Hyde Park that he survived as a 14-year-old by pretending to have a seizure. You may remember too the critical plaudits that greeted his strings-and-ballads-filled eponymous first album in 1998, and the tabloid-catalogued crystal meth addiction that ravaged him in the years after. More recently you may have heard about his campaign for marriage equality.

What you may never have heard is one of Rufus Wainwright’s songs. 

Because critical darling though he is, Wainwright has mostly produced the kind of music that repels radio programmers in his now ten-album long career – challenging, sometimes indulgent and often perilously dramatic reflections of a difficult life lived with great flamboyance. And then there were the recent side projects: the well-received opera, Prima Donna, and an “all Garland” night at Carnegie Hall. So it’s surprising to find that the latest Wainwright album, Out of the Game, is an almost straightforward pop affair (albeit with a inflections of histrionic Wainwright flair).”

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