Far is the fifth studio album by American alternative singer-songwriter Regina Spektor, released in Europe through Sire Records on June 22, 2009 and North America on June 23, 2009 The album's first single, "Laughing With", was uploaded to Spektor's MySpace page on May 8 and was released as a digital download on May 18 in the United States and parts of Europe, along with the b-side "Blue Lips". Two viral videos for "Dance Anthem of the 80s" and "Eet" were also released on Spektor's MySpace account. The official music video for "Laughing With" was released on iTunes on May 26, 2009. A special edition of the album was released with two bonus tracks and a DVD, which included four music videos.
Spektor decided to work with multiple producers on the album. She has compared composing an album to taking a class, and as such, she wanted to have "multiple professors". She also felt the multiple producers would allow them not to worry what the single or big hit would be. The most notable producers include David Kahne, who produced her last album Begin to Hope, and Jeff Lynne, former member of Electric Light Orchestra and The Traveling Wilburys. Although Lynne has an expansive musical background, Spektor did not know of his work when she originally met him.
"Regina's songs are like literature," said Lynne, who doesn't usually work with new artists, but said that Spektor's demo tapes blew him away. "It hits you right in the face how brilliant it is," he said. Lynne produced four songs for the album.
Track listing
All tracks written by Regina Spektor.
Reception
Bevan of Spin said that Spektor, in "The Calculation", "purrs a scenario of love and hurt that plays out in the breakfast nook..." Powers of the LA Times said of "Eet": "It's not just cute." Maerz of EW praised the album's quirkiness. He said of "Folding Chair" that she "literally sings like a dolphin" and that "Wallet" is the "best song ever inspired by a Blockbuster card." Dolan of Rolling Stone said that "Laughing With" is a song that "ends collapsing in an existential freakout over a soft beat and weeping cello." MacKay of NME said "Human of the Year" has "a typically Spektorian conceit" and her "remarkable, gutsy voice vaults to the rafters of heartbreak." Skinner of Insounds called "Genius Next Door" a "spiralling Gothic narrative that comes on with all the otherworldly beauty of a Haruki Murakami story." The album does not aim "at ideas above its station" nor does it "flounder in search of unity." Regarding "Man of a Thousand Faces", Neibaur of Frequency said that the "pathos of the lyrics is still strong enough to make the Incredible Hulk tear up a bit".
Blacklow of Access Hollywood called the album a "wonderful soothing summer sound". Lewis of the Cord Weekly said "Spektor delivers gloomy tales of turmoil, complemented by slow, haunting piano notes that could just as easily accompany a horror film." Snyder of the New Haven Advocate said that, overall, Spektor has "redirected some of that freaky stuff, tweaked and perfected it, to a new place where it fits better" and that the songs are "sometimes kind of serious." Neibaur of Frequency states that "Far pleases every auditory appetite."
Far scored 74 on Metacritic, which signifies "generally favorable reviews".
According to Neibaur, "The stark contradictions of critics relating to Spektor exemplify a larger problem in modern music criticismâ€"very few writers truly analyze music from an artistic perspective any longer." In a June 24, 2009 interview, Spektor remarked that: "I mean, in this book, it's music criticism from the 19th century, and they're ripping Tchaikovsky a new asshole, but the thing that really gets me is that it's written so beautifully. It's nasty reviews in beautiful language, and that's what I want," she says. "My dad will forward me some of the stuff people write about me, and I think it's all bullshit. It's all, 'Oh, this sucks, that sucks, blah.' I don't want that. I want you to write poetically about how bad I suck."
Music videos
Four music videos have been released and can be viewed on her MySpace. These videos, all directed by Tom Petty's daughter Adria Petty, are also available on a bonus DVD included with the deluxe version of the album.
- "Laughing With"
- "Eet"
- "Dance Anthem of the '80s"
- "Man of a Thousand Faces"
Chart performance
Far entered the official UK Albums Chart at number 30 It also sold 50,000 copies in its first week, entering the US Billboard 200 number three. In the Canadian Albums Chart, Far debuted at number 16. The album has spent nineteen weeks on the Billboard 200.
Personnel
References
External links
- Far at Metacritic
- Regina Spektor â€" Regina Spektor official website
- "Regina Spektor Finds Strength in Numbers". Rolling Stone. March 20, 2009.