Regina Spektor - Begin toHope

Sun 15th Oct, 2006 in Music Reviews

The quirky vocals and intriguing songwriting of Russian born, but New York City raised, Regina Spektor are showcased here on Begin To Hope. She has a breathy quality on some tracks and  on others the vocal style brings to mind the excellence of one Rickie Lee Jones. Not a bad style to be compared with in this day and age!  Her vocals are smooth and the production is silky and catchy.

Regina performs on a bright red baby grand to catch your visual attention. But the main reason to listen here is  to the lyrics that are intelligent and fun. She plays with her voice and uses it as an additional instrument. Fidelity, a song about quite possibly her broken heart, has her doing a number of oral gymnastics, but it definitely sucks you into the rest of the 11 songs captured here. She has a classical style on the keys, but a pop sensibility in her music.

She has the sound of a performance artist in quite a number of her songs, if you know what I mean, think of someone like Laurie Anderson. On The Radio is one of the highlights, with great piano and singing. The song she hears on the radio is November Rain and she gets it twice, because the DJ is asleep. And if you don’t know the song she mentions, go check it out, even if the solo is awful long!

Stylistically though, Regina cannot be pigeonholed, so don’t expect a carbon copy of anyone you’ve heard before. She has her own way of describing the life around her. Very New York in many ways, like the words are in your face, but the piano is blissful. The song that caused me the most consternation for a day or two was Hotel Song. When she sings, “I’ve got to know you, you, you…” I was stuck with  trying to figure out where did this riff come from? After playing the tune down the line to my sister in the suburbs of New York, she nailed the tune in a moment. It’s a little bit of Just One Look, originally recorded by Doris Troy and then covered and made a hit by Linda Ronstadt in the ‘70s.

Regina is able to cover some late night jazz with Lady and she closes with a song about a faded love, Summer In The City, that will make you feel like you are in the room sitting on the piano with her.

File her next to people like Fiona Apple, Nora Jones and the like, and you won’t be disappointed with this little taste of Ms.Spektor.