LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III

Wainwright’s latest finds the singer, songwriter and satirist typically wry and reflective, contemplating mortality and musing about life’s tangled trajectory. Mirth and melancholy are present in equal measure, from the humor infused in “My Meds” (“If the side effects don’t kill me, meds might save my life”) and “I Remember Sex” (a brassy duet with the wacky Dame Edna) to the pathos of the piano ballad “In C” (“I grew up and had a family, and it broke apart so easily”). Wainwright, 65, conveys his knowing perspective through songs that feature a vintage feel, be it the talking folk blues of “Double Lifetime,” the jaunty, jazzy autobiographical narrative “The Here & the Now” or the somber stance of “Ghost Blues.” It’s a long way from imagining a dead skunk in the road (as he did in his lone pop hit some three decades ago) to fretting over one’s own mortality, but Wainwright still makes the journey an enjoyable one. –Lee Zimmerman