To me, 'Far' is, at least, the most even, most album-like of Regina Spektor albums. Up to a point, that's a good thing, but the problem is that those other albums of hers are dwarfed by great songs. This album has no great songs to dwarf it.
In a way, it is the closest to what I would hope Regina Spektor would do, which is cut down on the kook and concentrate on the songs. But then you realise that the kook is an integral part of even some of her finest straight songs. Without the kook, she can be like Samson without the hair.
Enough negatives. Let's talk about the positives with Regina Spektor. The beautiful, clear, characterful voice, the warmth, the humour, and, bien sur (as one can imagine her interjecting), the songs, the indie piano ballads which play merrily on the heart strings and soundtrack that episode from Scrubs, that film with Zooey Deschanel, that film with Jesse Eisenberg, that episode of Girls, those things that us vaguely indie, vaguely romantic folk watch and love. Aah, that's a Regina Spektor song, I now enjoy this slightly average indie flick a little bit more than it deserves ...
Which songs in particular? Let's not beat about the bush, you're plain wrong if your favourite Regina Spektor songs, the ones that make you think she's really capable of greatness, aren't Fidelity, On the Radio, How and the daddy of them all, the 2000s indie ballad of 2000s indie ballads, Us. (None of these, by the way, are on 'Far').
'Us' was the first Regina Spektor song I heard, I think. Her first couple of albums were US-only and then the best of them were collected on an album called Mary Ann Meets the Gravediggers and Other Stories. She was a New York scenester, duetting with the Strokes, linked to the "anti-folk" movement, whatever the gracious that was. Maybe I first heard 'Us' on the radio. It didn't need more than one listen to make me think this was the song I'd been waiting for all my life. The album was a different story though. Stories and weirdness, tics and turns, changing time signatures, rapping, growling. Yes, I get it, Regina, Regina, Regina-a-a-, but it's a little exhausting.
And the next album, Begin to Hope, it kicked off like the greatest album ever - Fidelity, Better, Samson, On the Radio - a run of four marvellous, engaging songs, and then ... nothing. I mean nothing. The rest of the album never gave me one little thing, not one hook, not one smile, nothing. For shame.
Still, surely, 'Far', from 2009, would step up from that ... but somehow, no. She was clearly trying, aiming for consistency and quality. A lot of the tics and idiosyncrasies were ironed out, but the yen for storytelling remained, and well, without the tics, some of the storytelling seemed a little pretentious and facile. I gave the album plenty of listens, it was not unpleasant to have on in the background, but on about the 10th listen I realised that Regina Spektor would never be able to create a great album.
For me.
Clearly not for everyone. She does very well. Her last two albums went Number 3 in America - that's what happens if you write heartbreaking songs which appear on the soundtrack to kooky indie romcoms. After 'Far' came 'What We Saw From the Cheap Seats' which didn't really work for me on release, and was entirely dwarfed by one song, 'How', which is her straightest heartbreaker ever. The album also contained her most annoying bit of kookiness ever, 'Oh Marcello', which, you know, shouldn't have been allowed. Actually, relistening to all her work as I've been doing in the last week, 'Cheap Seats' is the strongest set yet, the best marriage of the different elements of her craft. Still not a great album, but I can, at least, begin to hope.
Anyway, there will be one great Regina Spektor album, so long as she doesn't make totally rogue choices. It will be called The Best of Regina Spektor, and perhaps it'll go a little like this ...
Us
Firewood
On the Radio
The Call
Braille
Carbon Monoxide
Blue Lips
Fidelity
Human of the Year
Samson
Better
Ne Me Quitte Pas
Patron Saint
Eet
Daniel Cowman
Small Town Moon
How
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