Common wisdom tells us that a plethora of vocal ticks set against alternatingly opulent and cutesy orchestration doesn’t make for a successful album. But if the title of her 2004 album Soviet Kitsch is any indicator, Regina Spektor seems to have come to terms with the arrangement and made it work in her favor. The Russian-born singer-songwriter makes a strong case for that fact with her 2006 follow-up, Begin to Hope, an album that asks you to love it, warts and all. The good news for Spektor is that she makes it near impossible to refuse.
Imperfect yet irresistible, Spektor yelps at times like Bjork but has the pop craft of Annie Lennox, if Annie Lennox were still popular. The album opens with “Fidelity,” a song whose staccato violin plucking and vocal riffing walk the line between “annoying” and “brilliantly catchy,” eventually falling off the line and landing with the latter camp. The technique pays off a second time at the end of “On the Radio;” the rest of the song pours life lessons over references to Guns ‘N Roses.
Hidden beneath Spektor’s quirky appeal is her ability to tell a touching story, even in the catchy numbers like “Hotel Room,” about growing up too quickly, and “That Time,” about a strung-out street couple. But her songwriting ability shines through most in the stunning ly beautiful “Samson,” a story of a disintegrating relationship laced with equal parts Biblical imagery and popular culture references.
The biggest obstacle in giving yourself completely to Spektor is the ability to get over her eccentricities, which keep her from being placed into the same camp as the Tori Amoses of the genre she is really quite close to. She hiccups through parts of “Après Moi” and even breaks into a verse of full native Russian, and, understandably, that doesn’t go over well on first listen. But continue listening, because it’s not a matter of whether or not you’ll fall for her; it’s a matter of how quickly.
Rating: * * * * of 5
I’m going to go ahead and say that I’ve been completely unimpressed with Spektor’s newer work.
It has gone so far as to seem that her originality has fallen prey to the genre of “weird.” It’s as if she is letting her creativity take the backseat to pleasing her fans. Which, in any art, is a big no-no. On the other hand, she may just be trying to make a buck. In that case, what can I say? She’s doing a good job.
But I would be incredibly leery of comparing her to Tori Amos. Spektor is weird-pop. Amos is just…weird. And I mean that with the utmost respect towards her work. On that note, I’d be leery of comparing anyone to Amos.
I believe everyone is entitled to our own opinion. I think Spektor has great music and that’s it!
I’d actually argue that Amos’ music is far more accessible than Spektor’s. Granted, I haven’t heard the entire catalogue of either artist, and, in the interest of full disclosure, I’m not an Amos fan. I also haven’t heard Spektor’s earlier work, so I have nothing to compare it to. Nevertheless, I fully enjoy her sound. Thanks for sharing, and don’t ever be afraid to speak up when you stumble over here again.
It’s not that I think Spektor’s new work isn’t enjoyable. I just feel that it lacks the creative inspiration that it once had. I think she has her demographic incredibly well defined and cornered. Dare I say it…sell out?
At least she retains a bit of pop-culture obfuscation. A cult following, if you will. And considering the number of Kelly Clarksons out there today, I can respect that.
As for Amos, I’d say that her work after “Boys For Pele” is far more accessible than her early work. Although, “Boys for Pele” is, arguably, her best album by merit of the investment the listener must make in it to truly appreciate it.
I think when it comes to debating/comparing Tori Amos and Regina Spektor and the relative accessibility of each, one key question should come to mind:
Whose music is more likely to appear duing an episode of Grey’s Anatomy?
As Ms. Spektor’s “Fidelity” has already made an appearance this season, well, the answer is pretty clear. :-)
Nicely done, Beth. I don’t watch Grey’s but my brother pulled up a soundtrack on his computer and had me identifying songs more quickly than he could, which is a feat. My favorite? “Portions for Foxes!”
Though I’ve become quite an avid fan of Grey’s, its soundtrack is my least favorite aspect of the show. It’s nice that the show supports otherwise-unknown talents by giving them a shout-out on the air, but the inherent melodrama of the show just makes it all seem so…well, calculated. I don’t think that this has always been the case, necessarily, but since it paved the way for Snow Patrol’s propulsion into insta-notoriety by using “Chasing Cars” in last season’s finale, it’s become hoplessly obvious that the music supervisor really, really wants to do the same for another artist. And while this isn’t necessarily bad, it’s made the show’s music choices as of late rather myopic–instead of picking a song that really fits with a scene, the powers that be are more interested in using one from a soft-alt-rock band that only a handful of people have heard before. They would do well to take a page from The Sopranos and Sex and the City, two shows that focus on properly underscoring a scene, even if it isn’t in the trendy genre du jour…
A very funny moment on “Scrubs” a few weeks ago is when JD said that he always imagined a song by the Fray playing during a memory montage, they started playing “How to Save a Life,” and he said “No, not that Fray song. THIS Fray song” and “She Is” started playing. It was a cute little moment that pokes fun of the prevalence of trendy music in television, even if Zach Braff is a little bit to blame.