Rufus Wainwright Is Ready To Release The Stars

Canadian piano heartthrob Rufus Wainwright wants to live life to the fullest on his forthcoming Release The Stars album.

The Geffen follow-up to 2004's Want Two is Wainwright's first self-produced album. It was executive produced by Pet Shop Boys frontman Neil Tennant. The two had previously worked together on PSB's live Concrete album.

Producer Marius DeVries (David Bowie, Bjork, Madonna) mixed the record, which features appearances from Richard Thompson, Joan Wasser (Antony And The Johnsons) and actress Sian Phillips. Wainwright's fifth album is expected to hit store shelves on May 15. Wainwright told NME that the new record is "about releasing your love and your brilliance, or acting on your impulses and basically laying it all down on the line. I think so much of life is spent hoarding and saving and protecting, and very few of us really live our full potential."

The Stephen Petronio Company will dance in a production called Bloom, with music composed by Wainwright, at the University Of Michigan on Feb. 16 and 17.

Wainwright will recreate Judy Garland's 1961 New York City Carnegie Hall concert at the Palladium in London, England on Feb. 18 and 25, and at the Olympia in Paris on Feb. 20. He'll be accompanied by an orchestra at each of the tributes to the gay icon.

Here are the songs on Release The Stars:
"Do I Disappoint You"
"Going To A Town"
"Tiergarten"
"Nobody's Off The Hook"
"Between My Legs"
"Rules And Regulations"
"I'm Not Ready To Love"
"Slideshow"
"Tulsa"
"Leaving For Paris"
"Sanssouci"
"Release The Stars"