Regina Spektor - Far

It may not have been as significant a moment in music as Dylan going electric, but when Regina Spektor’s previous album, Begin To Hope, saw the anti-folk phenom’s sparse compositions molested by a producer’s pop tricks, scores of fans felt every bit as wronged as John ‘Judas!’ Cordwell. Pleasingly, new release Far represents a step in the right direction, with Spektor clearly more comfortable with the new tools placed at her song-writing disposal.

Some tracks, such as 'Blue Lips', even manage to have a more stripped-down feel on the record when compared to previous live performances. Unfortunately there are still casualties, with the charming ditty 'Folding Chair' given some irksome backing vocals and toy-keyboard touches, but the presence of songs such as the sparkling, tingle-inducing 'Eet' and 'Laughing With' show that Spektor remains capable of making the kind of wonderful tracks that filled earlier releases Songs and Soviet Kitsch, and were so conspicuously rare on Begin To Hope.

Far bounces off to a bright start with 'The Calculation', as Spektor reins in the kooky scat singing for a more conventional melody, and 'Machine' and 'Dance Anthem of the 80s' suggest Spektor may have finally bridged the gap between her older, minimalist work and the whorishly crimped and curled tunes on Begin to Hope, with quirky, robotic rhythms supplementing the consistently strong, soulful piano.

There are too many duds dotted around for this to be a classic – 'Two Birds' and its awful brass backing is in no danger of being selected as a single, for example – but as mentioned before, there are enough sharp songs on the album to make it worth a listen. It’s likely that some tracks that initially fall flat will eventually worm their way into your brain, but Spektor set a high bar for herself with the superlative Soviet Kitsch, and sadly, Far falls short.

Regina Spektor: official website | MySpace | on Spotify

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