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Regina Spektor
Far
Sire
out June 23rd
[77]
[Rating Scale]
[rating:77/100]
After you listen to this album, you will arrive at 1 of the 2 following conclusions:
1. this album really good
2. this album is really really good
You can keep adding “really”s if you want because not only is this album superb on its first pass, but it also does the amazing job of growing on you. You will find yourself skipping to your favorite track, and the next day find another song to call your favorite and another and another. With each passing day, you realize, appreciate and choose another song, to discover that this pleasant album accommodates your mood, lyrical wants, and musical desires.
Maybe it was the first track ‘The Calculation’ that hooked me? Maybe it was the fact that most of these songs were road-tested, performed live until perfection? Or was it the seriousness of ‘Laughing With’ that had me sitting on edge since its release a couple months ago?
Far, Ms. Spektor’s 5th, does, has, and exudes everything you would want from an album. Balance, simplicity, complexity, calming, energizing, flow from beginning to end, flow on random, playlist ability, self-renewing favorite singles, and best of all Regina’s unique voice singing poignant lyrics over her signature piano progressions, expressed in everyway shape and form.
My current favorites include the eclectic ‘Folding Chair’ and the super creative ‘Dance Anthem of the 80s’. ‘Folding Chair’ sounds as if it were pulled straight out of a small carribean, reggae town — don’t let the first few seconds fool you; you might think that a power ballad is coming, but you are immediately thrown into this reggae piano progression and beat that instantly uplifts your mood as you find yourself hitting repeat to just to hear it again and again. Simple, summer, and love song are the 3 descriptors that come to mind when enjoying this hopeful summer anthem.
‘Dance Anthem of the 80s’? Don’t be surprised if you hear a remix (or maybe even the original) spun in the depths of a small club this summer. As soon as I heard the transition from the first verse into the chorus, I imagined a warm summer day at sundown with so many dancing to the pure fun of this tune. The song itself, so creatively done, reminds me of something that one of the underground DJs would spin in NYC — but instead comes with the amazing, unqiue delivery of Spektor’s soulful voice and a piano based core.
Now, I’m probably biased. It has been so long since I’ve been able to play an album straight through and enjoy every single song, I am probably making it sound as it is one of the best albums of all time. While I am fully aware that this album has nothing against the classic albums of all time, I will be the first to say I told you so when you realize that you still have this album in your CD player months or years down the road. God knows that Ms. Spektor’s latest effort is not too Far from being a permanent mainstay in my personal playlist rotation, so why not yours?
To enter to win a copy of Regina Spektor’s Far, leave a comment with your thoughts on the tracks you’ve just sampled, or (if you’ve listened to it) the album. Make sure you leave your name/email address in the provided fields! Entries will be accepted until June 30th
Richard Yoon is contributor here at Pretty Much Amazing. While he’s not runnin’ around the hospital or listening to music, he is blogging over at Music is My Hot Hot Sex.
