First posted on Mark Is Cranky:
Call me easily amused, by I'm a sucker for a girl who accompanies herself at the piano by whackin' a chair with a drumstick. That is how Regina Spektor sings the sassy "Poor Little Rich Boy". One hand for piano chords, the other for abusing a wooden surface with a stick. You'd think that that little trick might get tiresome even over the course of the one song, but the cool push & pull of the lyrics turns the whole thing into a pop/art event. The lyric fragment:
- "You don't love your girlfriend"
is delivered in the same amount of time as its completion:
- "...and you think that you should but she thinks that she's fat but she isn't but you don't love her anyway."
It's that Bjork-ish idea of applying a solvent to the language that makes this record so interesting.
Soviet Kitsch opens with the downcast (and rightly so!) "Ode To Divorce". That gentle (and very, very beautiful) voice with repeated piano figure is very effective. Jane Scarpantoni's cello adds a definite cinematic quality. Again, Spektor plays the word game near the end of the song by riding words like "small" and "doses" over descending melodies with three and four syllables each.
I've gotta say here that I was very taken with this recording from the first listen. But...I couldn't put my finger on exactly what was doing it for me. Then I realized that Spektor does something with her words that resonates with me: if necessary, she's completely willing to abandon a rhyme scheme. It's a great device for making a point (the above "Poor Little Rich Boy" lyrics being a fine example.) There are many others.
And there's the music. It's pop balladry, it's burlesque (the Dresden Dolls might be a good reference point), it's Russian folk music (only occasionally, but especially near the end of "Flowers"), it's almost operatic. And, most surprisingly, it's punk. OK, only one song fits that description, "Your Honor". It shows up right in the middle of the record and, if you're not ready for it, it's a brazen slap in the face. The whispered intro suckered me in as I turned up the volume to hear what was being said...only to have the snarling opening ("I kissed your lips and I tasted blood...") almost blow me off the couch.
Article comments
1 - The Theory
i'm kind of unsure about this record right now. On one hand, I think the songs were written well... but I also feel like the arrangements are a bit sparce. I like her voice, though.
2 - Mark Saleski
i think the sparseness is part of why i liked it.
too much pop music these days is too 'full' of sound.
3 - Temple Stark
Mark, This work of art in words you have created now has another venue for success, glory and taking control of the world - and many more eyes - at the Advance.net Web sites, a place affiliated with about 10 newspapers.
One such site is here.
Also please let your contact know the review is published at one more place. That helps a lot.
Thank you.
Temple Stark
4 - shara
I'm quite sure the only Regina Spektor song I've heard is Summer in the City. I love the idea of a chair & stick as accompaniment; that alone makes me want to listen to more.
5 - Dr Dreadful
Shara, go ahead and listen: you definitely won't regret it.
I became aware of Regina Spektor through flukish luck when her song "Samson" was played at the end of a CSI: NY episode (I say flukish because I never even watch CSI: NY). I liked it so I Googled the lyrics and found out who it was, then started to check out more of her stuff.
I now own everything of hers that is available on iTunes. She's always interesting and surprising to listen to. I love the iconoclastic inventiveness of her music and her wild changes of style - she can go from classical to punk in the space of a few bars.
She doesn't fit easily into any genre or with any other artist: I've heard comparisons to Tori Amos and Fiona Apple, but they only go so far.