Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche have joined forces on a terrific new album, Songs in the Dark, and tonight they celebrate the results at the Freight. “If ever an album merited the epithet ‘charming,’ this is it,” declares the Independent. The Guardian calls the new album “a lovely, twilit thing,” and says that “these performances are powerful because the sisters’ different voices create a strange magic together.” Magic their music is, on songs learned from Martha’s mother Kate McGarrigle and from Lucy’s mother Suzzy Roche, as well as songs by Woody Guthrie, Jimmy Rodgers, and Paul Simon, not to mention Richard Thompson’s harrowing lament, “End of the Rainbow.” The tone is haunting, mysterious, and tender, without being sentimental – these two sisters bring a good share of worldly wisdom and a sly sense of humor to their lullabies.

Martha, born in New York City and raised in Montreal, was 22 when she contributed a song to an album by her mother and aunt, Year of the Dragon, in 1998. Two EPs followed, winning praise from Norah Jones and Rolling Stone. In 2004, she released a self-titled album and performed in Martin Scorcese’s The Aviator, and since then, she’s released four more outstanding solo albums and worked with such artists as Dan Bern, Teddy Thompson, Nels Cline, Sean Lennon, and her brother Rufus. She also appeared in the award-winning television production, Olive Kitteridge. Her music is powerful and dramatic, and when she gets you under her spell, it’s impossible to resist.

Lucy has released a series of terrific albums, starting in 2007 with Lucy, and including an exquisite album of duets with her mother, Fairytale and Myth, and her latest solo album, There’s a Last Time for Everything. “The vibe here is dreamy, intimate,” says the website AllMusic, praising the “quiet, tender song settings.” And that’s what the audience gets with Lucy, along with her charming stage presence and crystalline vocals: songs that are honest and tender, dreamy and intimate, loaded with emotion and refreshingly straightforward. 

visit the Martha Wainwright website

visit the Lucy Wainwright Roche website