Regina Spektor just released a new album titled “home, before and after” on June 24, 2022, through Sire and Warner Records. The last time the world famous singer-songwriter released an album was in 2016, I think a lot of fans are excited to hear from her. If you’re not already a fan you might recognize her voice from the original song she wrote for the opening to Netflix hit TV series Orange is The New Black titled “You’ve Got Time”. This is actually her 8th album, she has a distant style of lyrically eclectic piano pop songs. Her music has been called anti-folk, indie pop that is influenced by blues and jazz, and alternative rock. The album features two songs that she’s been playing live for sometime now — Raindrops and Loveology.
“Becoming All Alone” sort of surprised me when the electronic drums came in on the first chorus. This song has a familiar sounding orchestral part, which honestly belongs in the soundtrack of a movie.
“Up The Mountain”, I love love love the catchy beat, shaker and tuba combination. But she lost me when she sang “in the nectar, there’s an answer” four times. The lyrics in this song are super repetitive which the complicated song structure tries to make up for. Overall I felt like I was trip sitting someone while listening to this song, I didn’t really get the premise. It is arguably the most experimental song on the album.
“One Man’s Prayer” also has a super catchy drum and shaker combo. The song starts out innocent enough, with sweet lyrics. But it turns into a song about some desperate man praying for a girlfriend. I’m not sure if the song is alluding that this man is creepy or just sad and lonely. It’s definitely snarky.
“Raindrops’ ‘ is certainly more stripped down than the first three. This song is really sweet and delicate, and does not have a traditional verse chorus verse chorus song structure. Interestingly the lyrics read as: verse with a tagline x2, pre chorus, bridge, pre chorus and the first two verses with a tag line x2 at the end.
“Sugarman” has a patient start and builds into a really catchy chorus. After the bass and drums come in in the chorus they stay for the rest of the song. I heard someone describe this song as awkward because she says “sugar man, sugar daddy” over and over again.
“What Might Have Been” is an example of classic Regina, writing and lyrics. It is the shortest song on the album, so you’ve got to pay attention before it’s over. I thought that the lyrics where she said “living and dying go together, business and crying go together, passion and madness go together and yellow and sadness go together” are some of my favorite lines in the album.
“Spacetime Fairytale” is the complete opposite, it’s the longest song on the album. At a staggering eight minutes and forty eight seconds it’s like a full scene in a play. I will say the song has a lot of orchestral arrangements, and goes from part to part. What is strange about this song is about half way through there is literally a tap-dancing solo that pans back and forth in the speakers. The tap-dancing solo sort of trails off with regina humming, and just when you think the song is ending she starts up with another verse. Near the actual ending of the song there is a very strange and evil sounding section, if you take a listen you’ll understand what I mean. Overall, it’s purposefully theatrical.
“Coin” follows coins and tells many short stories, she gives them to different people and they do different things in return. The majority of the song doesn’t have rhythms at all, so naturally it’s difficult to guess what’s next. Which sort of makes you follow along to the plot. This song shows her quirk for storytelling and her sort of fluid song structure.
“Loveology” is a cute and fun song, but I’m a little confused about the combination of going to the movies and studying in class. She sort of put two dissimilar things together to talk about love. It’s full of creative and made-up words.
“Through a Door” the final song on the album is about coming home, which I wonder if that was the intent of the album. She sings out “home is where the light’s on, no matter how long you’ve been gone”. Six years is a long time to be gone, we’re glad she’s back. It is a serene ending to an unrestrained album.
Overall this album has large and bold orchestral arrangements and conceptual lyrics. She iconically continues to communicate emotions through abstract lyrics. This album is not unlike her previous work, it’s quirky, funny and cynical.
good album but gawd the vinyl sounds AWFUL.
her sweet voice is overwhelmed by the big loose bass that permeates this record.
who on earth thought this sounded good ?