Regina Spektor

Far (2009)

July 30, 2009

**** / ****

By Mr. Marlowe

Regina Spektor has always carefully walked the fine line between cloying ridiculousness and astounding genius. She is an artist with an off-kilter vocal delivery, a silly/perceptive world-view, and an obvious insistence on breaking “the mold.” Which mold? Well, every mold. With her classical piano skills and out there ideas she is like a less insular Tori Amos, an even more obtuse and alternative Fiona Apple, and a whine free Adam Durtiz. In other words, Spektor is a capital “C” Character that always captures the imagination while delivering a bevy of inventive musical fairy tales.

Building off the raw quirkiness of her debut, Soviet Kitsch, and the refined yet provocative Begin to Hope, Far is the middle ground and Spektor’s best album to date. Harnessing the power of whimsy, clever word play, and exquisite story telling Spektor uses the album to tackle God, mortality, and humanity from every angle. With her ever-present piano dancing a ballet, a waltz, and just about every other dance that might be found shimmying the streets of New York City, Far is her personal ode to being alive in the early throes of the 21^st century while pondering the big questions most give up by age thirty. It is a beautiful notion and an even more beautiful execution.

The key to Far is that every song gets better the more times you listen. As the songs become increasingly familiar their clever lyrics slowly unfold until that moment hits when it all makes sense and a new world is opened before your eyes. That’s what good lyrics are all about. That’s what really good music is all about. Far is both.

Whether you believe in God, whimsy, or deep pondering is not the question at stake in Regina Spektor’s music. Rather, it is the nature and existence of God and humanity as it unfolds in life’s everyday struggles, epiphanies, and monotonies that we all face in one way or another that makes her observations so touching. As Spektor sings and observes we are reminded of the innocent perspective of children and their simple yet effective interpretations. Spektor is no child, and her observations much more sophisticated than they appear, but it is that childlike quality of her aura that makes her music so important.

Whether in a word, an inflection, or a whisper Regina Spektor proves with Far that she is one of the most interesting musicians of the decade. Far is an album not merely to be played once and discarded, but rather to be cherished for a lifetime.

Best Songs: Blue Lips, Laughing With, Man of a Thousand Faces, Eet, The Calculation, Folding Chair

Copyright 2009, Scott Muoio and Undependent Media. You may link to this review but may not reproduce it in full for your own means.