Since I gushed about Regina Spektor and my anticipation for her new release a couple weeks ago, I figured I should follow up with my thoughts now that I've actually listened to (and listened to and listened to) the album. First the good: Regina has freaking lungs. The girl can sing at any dynamic, probably in any key (ok slight exaggeration) and is flawless. She is also an incredible wordsmith and her song writing has really gone to a much deeper, introspective and meaningful place on this album. Oh, there's still the occational vocal percussion and entire chorus sung in dolphin noises, but on the whole these songs seem to have a bigger purpose than say "Sailor Song". At this point, the first single "Laughing With" is my hands down favorite track. It makes me want to cry and smile simultaneously.
The bad: And it kills me to have "the bad" to talk about, but here we go nonetheless. Regina worked with four different producers on this album, and I'm starting to think that may have contributed to the choppy feeling of the album as well as the dulling of her wonderfully quirky edge. There is a definite increase in the "popiness" of her sound and there is nothing on this album that comes close to "On the Radio" or "That Time". And I miss that weirdness. Hopefully this album will bring some new Regina fans into the fold, rack up some record sales and give her record company the cahones to let her have more control over the production next time around.
Until then, buy Far here and look out for Regina's tour dates here.
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