Another Side of Regina Spektor
As rain fell upon thousands of wet heads in Brooklyns McCarren Pool last Friday evening, Regina Spektors classically trained hands danced on the keys of her Steinway grand piano. Although Spektor brings together the worlds of pop, rock and classical, there is no mistaking her soundpoppy, theatrical, humorous and, at times, touchingfor that of another artist.
Spektors tongue danced around, too. Sometimes it sounded like she had two tonguesone for singing and one for doing anything but. As in her recorded material, she often took quick, sharp turns from singing making sounds that are almost indescribable. She punctuated her singing with bits of what can be called post-modernist scattingplayfully mangling a word the crowd expected her to sing beautifully, theatrically stuttering a consonant or suddenly dropping a conversational aside.
From her latest album, Begin to Hope, Spektor played popular tracks like Fidelity and Better, both of which are more poppyand, frankly, less interestingthan much of her other work. Another upbeat tune, Samson, one of the last songs of that wet evening, had an aura of honesty (vocals) and melancholy (piano) that the former two tracks lacked.
Spektor also played Apres Moi, a song from the new album with power evident from the first piano note. It has the sonic oomph of Guns N Roses ballads like November Rain, and live she played the song on her piano unaccompanied yet still managed to convey musical beauty and muscle. To her Eastern European-immigrant fans, this song is also knows as one of the very few tracks on which Spektor sings a verse in Russian. (She sings it so well, in fact, that its disappointing she doesnt do it more often.)
Spektor is primarily known as a singer-songwriter who plays a grand piano, but this rule has so many exceptions that its best to forget it. For about half of her set Spektors vocals and piano were accompanied by a triocello, viola, violinthat served as a nice backup in all the right places without overshadowing the star of the evening. For a few songs Spektor was accompanied by one or two beatboxing dudes. She also played two songs on her trademark light-green, hollow-bodied electric guitar, one of which was That Time, another well-known track from her latest album. That Time, with its fun and playful vocals and lyrics, sounds more punk than almost anything else by the artist. And as if that wasnt enough, Spektor did Poor Little Rich Boy, from her album Soviet Kitsch, with her left hand playing the piano and her right hand hitting a drumstick against some sort of wooden surface. So, yes, shes a musical acrobat.
But whats most notable about Spektor, both in concert and on record, is how seamlessly and simultaneously she manages to play so many different rolesa singer-songwriter, comedian, actor, storyteller. Her lyrics and stories carry her music. And they always get a reaction.
One song, Summer in the City, opened with: Summer in the city/ (pause) Means cleavage, cleavage, cleavage. That got a laugh out of many people in the audience, even though most looked like they knew what was coming. Or when on Music Boxwith its occasional Eastern European-influenced piano playing and cabaret singingSpektor sang lines like to sing another melody comple-he-he-he (she makes near-choking sounds). That one also got a laugh, not only because the word mangling is so well-timed but also because its funny in the lyrical context of the song.
Like most good music with an experimental spirit, Spektors songs can at times be hard to listen to. It may take time to get used to some of her shenanigans. But, paradoxically, the best part about that process is that theres a degree to which you never get used to it.