More about: Regina Spektor

"I want to write a classic like ‘Yesterday,’ but weird songs about meatballs in refrigerators come into my head no matter what", confessed Regina Spektor in 2009. "I can’t help it." It's a confession that encapsulates much of Regina Spektor’s artistic ethos – deeply profound, touching observations about the world around us, with a healthy dash of whimsy (and a good dose of cynical acidity). On home, before and after, Spektor finds herself simultaneously going back to her old roots and expanding on them with more cosmic, orchestral arrangements. 

These songs evolve wondrously, as Spektor songs usually do. ‘Coin’ uses a particular chain effect Spektor writes about a lot, such as in ‘The Trapper and the Furrier’, on which Spektor examines the tight braiding of social structures. Following a simple coin, her voice twirls and dances as she comes across the onslaught of information from shamans, scientists, and presidents. It’s only until the coin comes to an innocent baby where the tumult calms – or, as Spektor puts it: "Love is enough of a reason to stay."

Other times, the arrangement makes a big splash – ‘Up The Mountain’ rests on a similar premise of capitalistic rush, but the dramatic tempo changes, Spektor’s classic weirdo enunciantions and the songwriting really elevates it into a piece of entertainment. Meanwhile, live staple ‘Loveology’ pairs a simple piano line with all sorts of ‘ologies’, starting with the absurd – porcupine-ology, train-ology. It evolves into love-ology, I’m sorry-ology; another example of the journey Spektor excels at taking listeners on. 

Unfortunately, there’s that eternal tension between rawness and commerciality that looms over Spektor’s songs. ‘SugarMan’ is a tale of advantageous power dynamics, in which the slow, plodding pace really lets down the narrative here. ‘One Man’s Prayer’ begins as an innocuous declaration of love, until you stumble across the line: "'Cause if I won’t get to meet God and I won’t get to be a god – then at least, God, let me get loved back by a girl". It devolves into a tale of desire, control, and fate – but the chorus is so anticlimactic compared to the heights other songs have reached. 

Nevertheless, Regina Spektor continues to refine her writing style with songs that contain grand truths expressed with the simplest of words. Just don’t let the simplicity of some of these arrangements pass you by. 

Home, before and after is out now. 

Issue Four of the Gigwise Print magazine is on pre-order now! Order here.

More about: Regina Spektor