Get Close to Far by Regina Spektor (Far - Regina Spektor)

Member Name: TheChocolateLady

Product:	Far - Regina Spektor
Date:	08/07/09 (103 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of great piano, interesting songs, lyrics and great vocals

Disadvantages: May be a bit over-produced for some, not as harsh as previous albums

Regina Spektor's newest album "Far" is one of those collections that as soon as you listen to it, you'll say "ah, yes, that's her, alright"! This is a good thing, since Spektor's fans would want nothing less. That it's June 23, 2009 release found it shooting straight to #3 on the Billboard Top 200 for album sales in the USA (that means that more than 49,999 other people besides me bought it in the first week), certainly attests to her popularity, which for someone as unique as Spektor is no small achievement. Even so, initial reviews are all over the place with the positive ones interspersed with disparaging critiques that range from accusing her of having gone for the "commercial jugular" (guardian.co.uk) to saying that her songs can't "stand on their own merits without the persistent interjection of vocal curlicues or verbal flights of fancy" (pitchfork.com) to calling Far a "mid-tempo muddle of pseudo-lovely tracks plagued by a hovering cloud of meddling strings, slappy drums and perfunctory triangle chimes" (Paste Magazine).

But it's all a matter of taste, and despite what her naysayers may spout, in "Far" we get her versatility along with her usual creativity and a healthy dollop of her musical prowess - especially if you, like me happen to revel her "vocal curlicues" and "verbal flights of fancy". Mind you, this album on first listen does have a lighter feeling to it than either "Soviet Kitsch" or "Begin to Hope", but as you get more into the words, you realize she's disguising her messages behind what might be considered to be slightly over-produced tracks. Reviewers like to remind us that Regina is all of 29 years old, and born in Russia to a Jewish family who immigrated to Brooklyn, New York when she was only nine years old. What this has to do with her music is a bit beyond me, except for some religious references in her songs "Laughing With" (which ends with the lyrics "no one's laughing at God/we're all laughing with God") and "Human of the Year" (which seems to take place in a cathedral). Even in these songs, her references are more general than religion-specific, making us wonder what her relationship with God really is.

Whatever that may be, certainly Spektor shows us once again that enigmatic is her trademark. That she's taken this and put it into 13 songs that are all a bit easier to listen to than her previous albums may be one of the reasons for her detractors. As mentioned above, this album is heavy on production, with the team looking like a who's-who music lineup with Jeff Lynne (ELO), Mike Elizondo (Eminem), David Kahne (Paul McCartney, and Spektor's own album "Begin to Hope") and Garret Lee (REM). But while this list is in itself an enigma, that doesn't mean this album is a hodge-podge of songs that range from pop to rap to alternative rock. Mind you, there are a few places where these producers' hands are felt, but the bottom line is still a uniquely Regina collection, probably because her typically original lyrics are where she doesn't collaborate.

That said, what impressed me most about this collection is her display of piano prowess that is far stronger here than in her previous albums. Practically every song here gets her on the keyboard and even there she's playful. For instance, in "Dance Anthem of the 80's" the piano starts out sounding almost like a child is playing, with a single pinging introduction. Regina continues with an innocence feel to other songs here, such as "Folding Chair" where she teases that she has a "perfect body because [her] eyelashes catch [her] sweat". But when Spektor goes into her piano virtuoso mode on songs like "Genius Next Door" and "One More Time with Feeling", she really shines.

Spektor moves easily from the mischievous to the subdued on this album, giving the collection a varied feel to it. For instance the soulful song "Wallet" talks about finding a lost wallet and looking through its contents to get insight into the owner. But we're brought back to her whimsy when she discovers the Blockbuster card and decides that's how she'll get the wallet back to its owner. These opposites are also apparent in "The Calculation" whose bouncy tune talks about how they make their "own computer out of macaroni pieces" but then they "saw our hearts were little stones/Pulled 'em out they weren't beating/and we weren't even bleeding". Probably the most distinctive song on this album is "Machine" which opens with almost banging lower register piano chords. This song might be compared to "Après Moi" from "Begin to Hope". It has a futuristic feel to it, as if it deserves to be on the soundtrack of WALL-E, and includes a Lady GaGa-esque chorus of "hooked into machine" followed by angelic background vocals.

This is paralleled with her own lead vocals in that her clear, honest sounding soprano is in top form, still bringing a touch of innocence into songs written for her upper register while giving us the sound of harsher reality when she belts it out on songs written for her mid and lower range. She also continues to use her voice in her typical unusual manner, for instance, when she imitates sounding like a dolphin in one song, while in another she's given the chorus a middle-eastern flavoured riff. But she still tickles us when sounding like percussion instruments. Mind you, she does this less on this album than in her previous ones, but its still there, and still very Regina.

In sum, this album doesn't belie Regina's anti-folk roots, and while the overall feel is generally softer than her previous albums, it still has enough of her inimitable lyrics mixed with supple vocals and skillful instrumentation to make it still feel distinctively Spektor. This isn't an album for chilling out to, but rather one that will intrigue and fascinate, making you want to listen to it carefully and investigate all the aspects contained within, and particularly the lyrics. Moreover, the more you listen to this album, the more you find in it, both lyrically and vocally. While some may not totally approve of the slightly slicker productions on these tracks, they don't really detract from the whole, and to my mind, actually give this album a by and large more polished, if not mature sound. I'll go so far as to give it a full five stars out of five and highly recommend this one. Well done, Regina!

Thanks for reading!

Davida Chazan © July, 2009 (Associated Content, Helium and Dooyoo)

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Technical Stuff:

Regina Spektor's website is at www.reginaspektor.com

This album is available from Amazon for downloading at £0.79 per track, or you can buy the album direct from Amazon on CD for £8.98, or through one of their sellers from £7.72. There's also a special two disk edition available new on Amazon for £12.98 or through their sellers, new from £9.91 and used from £8.98.

Regular Edition track list:
1. The Calculation
2. Eet
3. Blue Lips
4. Folding Chair
5. Machine
6. Laughing With
7. Human of the Year
8. Two Birds
9. Dance Anthem of the 80's
10. Genius Next Door
11. Wallet
12. One More Time with Feeling
13. Man of a Thousand Faces

Special Edition includes:
14. Time is all around (Bonus Track)
15. The Sword & the Pen (Bonus Track)

Disc: 2 (video versions)
1. Laughing With
2. Dance Anthem of the 80's
3. Eet
4. Man of a Thousand Faces

The version I bought has only the first 13 tracks on the above first disk, and was packaged in a carton cover and there was no liner with lyrics, so if you get that version you can find the lyrics at http://www.lyrics.com/lyrics/regina-spektor/far-r- 1567185/
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Summary: Regina Spektor's 2009 Album Far is a great follow-up to her previous albums