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Review: Regina Spektor – What We Saw From the Cheap Seats

Here’s a thought – what is the ultimate fear of the average hipster (and what could possibly be more average than a hipster)? Although there is no hard and fast answer, I can hazard a few guesses. Running out of obscure foreign bands to namedrop, drinking lagers that other people might have heard of, and of course, enjoying a record despite the creeping feeling that the artist might have sold out. Regina Spektor’s music has been co-opted by the mainstream audience thanks to tracks such as ‘Us’, tender yet uplifting piano ballads and chamber pop songs that sound much like Zooey Deschanel acts. This kookiness has endeared her to many a casual listener, and many a be-cardiganed trustfundee.

This was not always the case. Spektor has her roots in the NYC anti-folk scene, a tradition which pokes fun at those with pretensions to cool or success. The anti-folk singer is an average person, with something to say and a modicum of musical talent with which to say it. Spektor more than qualifies – her voice is as fluid and breathy as that of Feist yet her lyrics can be as biting and sarcastic as the daddy of anti-folk –Jeffrey Lewis (if you haven’t heard his music, you need to).

In What We Saw From The Cheap Seats, Spektor is on top form, covering her usual topics of death and music; love and everyday life. Each track has a specific character, from the mournful ‘Firewood’, to the rainbow-vomit-inducingly cute ‘Don’t Leave Me’, and each is performed with the same gusto and heartbreaking sincerity that makes Spektor such a visceral performer, but with the addition of lush and beautiful orchestration and production. However, no matter what the material, the common factor between each and every track on this album is that they are all thoroughly enjoyable.

So take that, hipsters. Your darling Regina is writing wonderful, lush songs that aren’t in hoc to any hipster rule of obscurity. If that means she has sold out, then so much the better. But, just for your sakes, don’t stop listening to her yet – this sell-out has written the best album of the year so far.

FIVE STARS

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