All
The Rowboats
Regina Spektor
Sire Records
It’s been nearly three years since any new material was
released from American/Russian Singer-Songwriter Regina Spektor. And although
reportedly penned back in 2005, it’s taken till now for Regina to release All The Rowboats, her latest single taken
from upcoming album, What We Saw From The
Cheap Seats.
Don’t be fooled by the electronic opening segment, as after
20 seconds the song descends quickly into the fast paced piano led piece that
it is. Chords spiral up and down the scale in an erratic and somewhat creepy
manor, setting an overall dark edge to the song. More and more sounds are added
on top, with swelling melodies and exploding percussions joining the mix. In
fact, the song reaches a point when it’s close to becoming just noise,
encompassing and covering Regina’s vocals more and more, louder and louder until
she is finally drowned out by the orchestral sounds. It’s a dangerous point for
a song to be, balancing between brilliance and bewilderment. Yet, Regina keeps
the track beautifully held at this point with her voice acting as the centre
piece, orchestrating the dark and quirky undertones around her.
Admittedly due to its fast paced verses, it did take several
listens to fully capture every lyric, word and note. But once this is done,
true appreciation for Regina’s poetic style of writing can be taken. The quirky
lyrics describe museums and their artefacts as “Just public mausoleums/The living dead fill every room”. Regina
truly showcases her talent for song-writing, creating interesting and
intelligent lyrics with dark yet enlightening edge.
In the overcrowded world of the female music scene, Regina
is somewhat of an anomaly. She doesn’t have the force or power of Florence And The Machine, or smooth subtleness of Lana Del Rey. But what she does have is a certain sense of
character and skill seen in only a handful of artists. Vocally she is strong,
pronouncing every word perfectly, drifting from chorus to verse and back again
with the slightest of ease. With everything together, this makes for a great
‘comeback’ track.
4/5
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