Regina Spektor - "Soviet Kitsch" (Warner / Sire, 2005) - * * * * 1/2
It is a rare experience, but there are special moments when an album takes over the mind, making a listener question everything he or she once believed about a genre.
Regina Spektor's album wouldn't appear to be this species of musical beast. The cover art is a ghastly misrepresentation of what's inside; I thought I was picking up a punk rock album when I saw her picture on the cover, a flask of liquor touching her lips, her eyes winking at me from under a hat she must have purchased from Scott Weiland. The title "Soviet Kitsch" further suggests that the music within isn't of much consequence.
Don't believe that for a single instant. Ignoring this album would be the biggest mistake a music fan could make.
I put this album in my stereo Friday afternoon, searching for a way to escape the dreary rain falling outside my window. Upon first listen, the music seemed adventurous and creative. Yet without any reigns on Spektor's free-wheeling style it was hard to comprehend where the album was supposed to go. The second song, "Poor Little Rich Boy" was a real stumbling-block. The song opens with a simple piano line coupled with the sound of a drumstick clicking off a metal snare rim. Then Spektor's voice comes in and she keeps shifting the meter, at some points trying to cram four lines of lyrics into two measures of music. The song ends with her endlessly repeating the phrase "you're so goddamned young!" as the drumstick clicking ratchets up in intensity.
It is a bizarre track, but after a few listens I started to appreciate Spektor's idiosyncratic style. I couldn't stop playing the CD. I finally lost count Saturday night, but at that point I'd heard the entire album twelve times through. I may need to be committed. I don't know how to stop!
Spektor builds her songs on an elegantly crafted piano foundation, which showcases her classical training. Blending elements of her childhood (she came to America from Russia at the age of nine) with her Bronx influences, she sketches characters that are so "real" it is impossible to hear a song the same way twice. With "Chemo Limo" she gives a voice to a cancer patient who dreams of scrapping her chemo treatments and using the money to spend time with her children and "go out in style." The words are powerful in their honesty: "No thank you no thank you no thank you no thank you," she sings. "I ain't gonna die like this! I can afford chemo like I can afford a limo and besides, this s--- is making me tired, you know."
Spektor also lets her sense of humor run rampant on "Your Honor," which opens with a bang: "I kissed your lips and I tasted blood! I asked you what'd happened and you said there'd been a fight. You said, 'I've been fighting for your honor, but you wouldn't understand,' so I said, 'hold on, your honor, I'll get ice for your hand.'" The tension in the song is aided by the presence of British hard-rockers Kill Kenada; it is, in fact, the only song on the album using a full band.
The album closes, however, with my favorite song: "Somedays." It sounds both familiar and new. I kept hitting repeat to hear just this song over and over. "Some days aren't yours at all," she sings. "They come and go as if they're someone else's days. They come and leave you behind somebody else's face, and it's harsher than yours. It's colder than yours." Her voice rises into a near wail as she repeats "I've gone away, don't call me, don't write." The sincerity in her performance is heart-wrenching.
"Soviet Kitsch" is an album that takes some effort to fully appreciate. Like Tori Amos, Regina Spektor has the ability to write amazingly evocative piano pieces. But also like Amos, she finds ways to add lyrics that are multi-layered and sometimes impenetrable. But let the album play a few times, and you'll be in my situation. I've removed all the other CDs from my stereo, something keeps making me want to hear the album just one more time. And each time I hear something new that makes me want to go out and pass out copies of the album to everyone I meet on the street.
Regina Spektor used to be a New York City underground secret. While she won't ever be mainstream in any sense of the word, she's written the best album you're not listening to.
Visit http://inmyheadphones.blogspot.com to hear MP3 samples from "Soviet Kitsch."
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