Kharmonious: Far - Regina Spektor

To say the very least, Regina Spektor exudes personality. One glance at her website or "Survival Guide to Soviet Kitsch" zine* will reveal this and her music is no different. Wikipedia associates her with "anti-folk" music - which I didn't know existed and am not really sure what it means. Nonetheless, much of Regina's music is beyond classification. It's piano and vocal driven (Regina is one of those gifted musicians who truly uses their voices as an instrument), it's experimental and it's kinda folksy (or anti-folksy if you prefer). Her most famous singles are "Fidelity" and "On the Radio" from her previous album "Begin to Hope" (2006).

Personally, it took me a while to get into Regina's music; "Begin to Hope" was the first album of hers I bought. Her newest album "Far" on the other hand, I fell in love with immediately. From the upbeat opening track "The Calculation", Regina entices and intrigues with interesting melody lines and unpredictable vocals. On the whole, I'd say "Far" is more upbeat than "Begin to Hope" but equally thoughtful and insightful, especially "Laughing With" and "Blue Lips" - two of my favorite songs from the album. In its entirety, the album covers a range of tempos and moods. Her piano melodies often begin simply, but gather steam throughout the song with the addition of percussion, her own beatboxing or a tuba (to cite just a few examples) - her instrumentation is fabulous. Her lyrics often muse on relationships, religion and humanity (but they really do feel like musings and not soapbox rantings). I recommend the entire album, but my favorite tracks at the moment are "Dance Anthem of the 80's", "Eet", "Human of the Year" and "Laughing With". You can also view her music video for "Laughing With" here: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid4020141001?bctid=23871654001 (the embed code wasn't working, but if it does later I'll add it). I thought it was pretty unique and cleverly edited.

* If you like Regina's music, I highly recommend checking out her "Survival Guide to Soviet Kitsch" zine. Just go to "Reginapolis" on the navigation bar and the pdf download link is in the bottom left corner. There's also a Tetris game called "Spektris" on the same page.

Fave tracks: "Dance Anthem of the 80's", "Eet", "Human of the Year" and "Laughing With".
RIYL: Kate Nash, Feist, Ingrid Michaelson, Sia