Regina Spektor - Begin To Hope

Regina Over the course of the last several months, Regina Spektor has been passed around like gossip– too good and juicy to keep to yourself, but too special to be blabbed to the whole world. Well, with “ Fidelity” hitting the airwaves and the media loop at Target, Regina appearing on Leno and Kimmel, several songs appearing on CSI: New York [creator Anthony Zuiker also plans to put her in a few episodes next season], and then on CBS’s Sunday Morning last week it’s out of our hands. But for those of you just being introduced to Regina, just remember that she made her rounds beneath the radar, and that the hype is, indeed, deserved, if not entirely true.
So, down to business about Begin to Hope. My friend Dave has been in love with Regina for months and through him I’d been exposed to a few select tracks, which had earned her a fair portion of my interest and admiration. I found a fantastic deal on the full album, so I couldn’t pass it up. It’s turned out to be one of the best discount purchases I’ve made [ along with these which I also found on sale and fell in love with]. The reasons for this are numerous. There’s an immediate appeal with Regina’s voice, which is very inviting. Most of the songs have an appealing sound at first listen, kind of catch in the wrinkles of your brain. At first I worried that this was it. Just that superficial “Oh, this sounds nice” thing, only to be presented with fluff on closer listens. For a while I was almost afraid to find that out, but that’s not the case at all. The lyrics, though a bit light-hearted at times, are truly clever, genius at times [see the penultimate stanza in "On the Radio"]. The musical range is fantastic, and moods run from absurd to epic to intimate and ’round the block again. This album is fantastic.
Final verdict: ignore the hype and consider it a personal recommendation. Just don’t ruin things for the rest of us.