Regina Spektor's newest CD, Begin to Hope , has launched her into stardom and national recognition almost overnight. However, unbeknownst to many, Spektor has been working her way up through the music industry for years by producing and selling her CDs in New York City clubs. The young singer/songwriter is a classically trained pianist who was born in Moscow and moved to New York City as a child.
Her previous albums include: 11:11, Songs, Soviet Kitsch, live@bull moose, and Mary Ann meets the grave diggers and other short stories. Like its predecessors, Begin to Hope showcases Spektor's versatile stylistic and vocal range, well-conceived musical arrangements, and offbeat lyrics. She has been compared to anti-folk artists such as Fiona Apple and Ani Di Franco, but her music defies category.
Her stream-of-consciousness songs possess an intimacy and depth matched by few present-day artists. Picture her sound as punk, gospel, hip hop, and Mozart all mixed up in a blender, with a volume of poetry thrown in. Begin to Hope has 12 tracks, all written and performed as vignettes.
Spektor becomes a different character in each song. Her voice ranges from wistful in Samson and Field Below , to paranoid in Apres Moi and 20 Years of Snow. She has an uncanny sense of when to let her own emotions come into play and when to hold back, giving her music an authenticity as effortless as her artistry.
Spektor wastes no words, combining her expressive voice with rich imagery to evoke complete stories, while leaving much to the listener's imagination. Her abilities are on full display in Fidelity, the CD's biggest hit. First-time listeners will love its catchy melody , and the warm bursts of synthesizer balanced by thumping percussion and sweet, but stark piano notes.
However, the story told by the simple lyrics is what makes the song so powerful. Fidelity describes and celebrates Spektor's experience of opening herself up to love and its vulnerability. But the song is also about how that love changes her music.
In the beginning of the song, she expresses regret for stifling emotion: I never loved nobody fully/always one foot on the ground/and by protecting my heart truly/I got lost in the sounds/I hear in my mind all of these voices/...
And it breaks my heart. She realizes that she used her music to create a fictional world, substituting her character's experiences and feelings for her own. She then falls in love, and her music changes from a hiding place to a means of opening herself up.
But as she repeats the refrain, she reveals that with this exposure comes pain: And it breaks my heart. By the end of Fidelity , Spektor is still singing the same words that started the song off, but now triumphantly. She has allowed her heart to be broken, because it is the only way one can truly experience love.
Although Fidelity is probably Spektor's best-known current song, every track on Begin to Hope is an artistic achievement in its own right. First-time listeners should download Fidelity , On the Radio , and Hotel Song. On the Radio has a bright, up tempo rhythm that contrasts with the speaker's cynical, mocking tone.
The lyrics are almost like rap, as they connect bizarre episodes with witty rhyme. In Hotel Song , a jaded songbird recounts a tale of lost innocence over a cheery melody and an addictive beat. Begin to Hope gives all of us hope for the future of contemporary music.
News RSS