ALBUM REVIEWS

*** Rufus Wainwright, “Rufus Wainwright,” DreamWorks. Although he’s the offspring of folk singers Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, 23-year-old Rufus Wainwright’s sensibility leans closer to cabaret and musical theater. Nearly every track on his debut is couched in grandiose orchestrations, and his lyrics convey an abiding, uncynical faith in love that would sound mawkish were it not for his skills as a songwriter and arranger.

Singing in a boyish, tremulous croon, Wainwright draws out fragile melody lines that almost sound like dirges. If anything, his subject matter suggests a Victorian-era aesthete. The jilted lover in “Barcelona” seeks refuge in the faded romanticism of that fabled city; “Damned Ladies” is a homage to famous opera heroines, while the protagonist of “Matinee Idol” is a washed-up Rudolph Valentino figure.

Wainwright’s lush, vaguely vaudevillian arrangements echo the pop classicism of composer-arranger Van Dyke Parks, from the flophouse decadence of “Matinee Idol” to “Millbrook’s” Kurt Weill-esque orchestration. Wainwright--who plays the Roxy on Wednesday--also betrays a sunny pop streak on tracks such as “April Fools” and the beguiling “Beauty Mark.” Enchanting and haunting, this record sounds unlike anything else you’ll hear this year.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).