With three years of building anticipation from fans of her highly acclaimed album Begin to Hope (released in 2006), Regina Spektor’s newly released album, Far, was a monumental let down. The 29-year-old Russian-Jewish songstress immigrated to the states from Moscow as a child and has since made a name for herself with quirky and memorable hits such as “Fidelity” and “On the Radio”. Fans of Spektor indulge most in her flawless piano arrangements and minimalist approach; her eccentric but understated vocals combined with insightful and penetrating yet soothingly simple lyrics. Unfortunately, her new album Far has outstretched its boundaries and ventured a bit too much into cutesy-pop territory.
The album opens with a tricky track called “The Calculation”. At first everything is okay, and you’re thinking, “there’s the Regina I know and love!”—that is, until the chorus chimes in out of nowhere with an unwelcome salvo of piano-pop cacophony. With the exception of “Blue Lips” and “Genius Next Door”, the rest of the album follows the suit of being completely unanticipated. Unfortunately, even the single “Eet” is underwhelming, over manufactured and really just nothing special. Overuse of voices aiming to coordinate with the theme of the song in tracks such as “Machine” and “Laughing With” come off just as contrived and overworked as the general production of the entire album. And let’s not even get started on “Dance Anthem of the 80’s”—it belongs exactly where its title suggests.
You would think that the folks over at Sire Records would have provided better guidance for this jumbled, bipolar mix of tunes, but to the severe disappointment of (at least) one loving fan, Spektor has fallen far from the top of my list. We can only begin to hope she will climb back up.
