Regina Spektor - Far

As charming and she is enchanting, Soviet born Regina Spektor is back with her fifth album ‘Far’, and true to form, it’s spine-chillingly beautiful.

Throughout the sixteen tracks, Regina characteristically playfully, but precisely, exudes all the words you wish you could have been the first person to articulate, if you’d realised you felt it. She also maintains her balance of maturity, approaching issues of God and family life, but combining it with an endearing naivety as she effortlessly breaks down even the most complex of emotions into a simplified, often tongue-in-cheek, lyric.

Regina’s classical influences, that include the likes of Mozart and Chopin, combine with a plethora of seemingly separate genres from hip hop to jazz, to create the perfect foundation for the new album. Tracks like ‘Folding Chair’ demonstrate Regina’s prowess as a pianist as lyrics like “I’ve got a perfect body because my eyelashes catch my sweat, yes they do’ playfully bounce along staccato piano chords. That is, before she shows off her trademark quirkiness bursting into an impromptu dolphin impression

Whilst, as with ‘Begin to Hope’, in comparison to it’s predecessor ‘Soviet Kitch’, Regina’s new album demonstrates a more produced and polished finish than her initial fans are perhaps used to. Yet, when the end product still conjures the goose bumps we come to expect of Regina’s beautiful voice juxtaposed by her Bronx twang and storybook-like lyrics that echo her influence on successors such as Kate Nash, it becomes hard to fault.

Forget what the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl tell us every Christmas, the fairytale in New York is Regina Spektor, and it’s bloody good to have her back.