It Was so Easy and the Words Were So Sweet

You would think if you went into the studio with as diverse producers as Jeff Lynne (ELO), David Kahne (Tony Bennett), Jacknife Lee (Snow Patrol), and Mike Elizondo (Eminem) you would come out with an eclectic groups of tracks. Yet for the third album by Regina Spektor with those for four producers all contributing, Far still sounds like classic Spektor with only those with the highest musical I.Q. would even come close to matching songs with the producer without peeking at the liner notes.

Far continues Spektor’s trend of quirky female piano pop that many people try but fail to get her recognition (it is no surprise that she recently recorded with her male counterpoint Ben Folds). Really, Spektor is the only person that could wax poetic about a DJ forgetting to take November Rain off of repeat and turn it into a kids sing a long for a video or turn heart and fall into fifteen syllable words. And that continues on the new album whether she is making dolphin sounds on Folding Chair, a chorus that just repeats the word Eet, lines about making computers out of macaroni (The Calculation) or creating a whole song about thumping through a stranger’s Wallet.

But the strangest of them all may be Dance Anthems of the 80’s which despite the title still has Spektor’s signature piano instead of the decade’s familiar synthesizer. And the oddness of the song is only outdone by the video for Dance Anthems of the 80’s. Spektor gets plenty existential on the album like on Blue Lips where the Adam and Eve verses work much better than the simplistic chorus. Or Laughing With where she takes a look at some of the more depressing creations God have given us like poverty, hospitals and natural disasters. While Machine is one of her more brooding song thanks to some heavy percussion and lyrics that deal with humans become one with them.

Song to Download – Eet

Far gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.