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 (Sire/Warner)
“Quirky” singer-songwriter crafts a strong successor to Begin To Hope
Now that Far, her fifth album, has arrived, Regina Spektor has, for better or worse, become known as a “quirky” artist – at least, this is how she is labelled by mainstream music press. Let’s be honest, though: Spektor isn’t as quirky as Tori Amos, let alone someone like Diamanda Galás, which is probably fortunate for her record sales. But Spektor’s mislabelling reveals something about her work: namely, the huge amount of pop nous hiding behind the extraneous details that have given her the “quirky” label. Thus what is most surprising about, say, Folding Chair, is not that Spektor makes some strange dolphin noises, but that she can make said dolphin noises fit seamlessly into an incredibly catchy and well-produced (courtesy of Jeff Lynne) song. Indeed, choosing a lead single must have been hellish for Warner, given the strength of nearly every track on this album. Unfortunately, an album is more than the sum of its parts: Spektor’s emotive numbers need a little breathing room, and so the tender Human Of The Year fades into insignificance upon first listen as it’s jammed between lead single Laughing With and album highlight Two Birds. Chalk this up to Far being a product of the iPod Shuffle age, and don’t let it get in the way of this album’s chief success: namely, being a worthy follow-up to Begin To Hope. If you’re already in love with Spektor, Far won’t dissuade you; if you haven’t discovered her yet, you might just get what everyone else is on about.
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CHAD PARKHILL
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