Regina In a French Magazine

A big thank you to fooeleven (www.queenofnoise.com) for sending us this scan.Yeah, we know it's in French, but any Regina news is good news. ~~Perhaps someone can translate, as I did not pay attention in French class. The article title is "Folle Regina", and according to Google, "Folle" means crazy, or madwoman. Go figure.~~ The magazine is called Les Inrockuptibles. Here are the scans:

Clicky to view

Translation by Lauren (thank you so much!):

Eccentric Regina Spektor

-The eccentric New-York based Regina Spektor transformed a building into a musical instrument on her new, fantastic, and rich album.

On Begin To Hope, her successful mainstream debut released three years ago, Russian-born American Regina Spektor sang these words in French: Apres Moi, le deluge. That wasn’t exactly, true; for, Regina’s songs, joyful pop tunes composed of simply her piano and her clear voice have all the power to send rain off running, lighten darkened horizons, and make stars twinkle even in broad daylight. Toward the beginning of her singing career, Regina, a spirited New Yorker, performed alone on stage, and self-produced her cds, which left her free to express her artistic liberty through song. Thus, she rightfully earned her place within the “Anti-Folk” genre.

Then, in 2004, with her album Soviet Kitsch, her first to be released under a major label, she came forth with “Us,” a flawless pop song with classical undertones inspired by the music she adored, with vibrant chords and a piano line which soars with the clouds: 4 minutes and 52 seconds of pure joy, constantly standing by, as immediate and strong as a clap of lightening. “And it’s contagious, and it’s contagious,” sings Regina toward the end of the song. Since “Us,’ Regina’s rapport with her audience has only been strengthening. Whether her songs be piano/vocal, slightly overproduced like some of Begin to Hope, or perfectly produced, Regina Spektor’s songs are cocktails both explosive and romantic, magical, euphoric potions with champagne bubbles and the alcoholic strength of vodka.

Regina is one part sorceress, one part magician. She proves this once again with her new album, Far, by far her best, most striking, and richest. On “Machine,” the fifth song on the album, Regina does something we’ve never heard, something we didn’t even know was possible: she uses a building to create the background and landscape of the song. In fact, she used sounds made in 2008 by David Byrne in New York: an organ whose keys rely on elements of construction of an immense industrial building. Regina states simply, “I played a building,” as though this were a normal, everyday occurrence.

She does some other unique things on Far, such as working with 4 different producers, the diverse and illustrious Jeff Lynne of ELO, Mike Elizondo, Garrett Lee, and David Kahne, with whom she had already collaborated with for Begin to Hope. Of the process, Regina said, “First, I composed the album thinking about sound, arrangements, and the atmosphere of each song, which was totally new for me- before I had just composed the piano and voice parts. Next, I told myself that I had to profit from the experience of making a record, because I don’t often get a chance to make an album. I wanted to learn a lot, as though I were in school. And why have just one teacher when I could take four courses at the same time? So I chose four producers, and with each one of them I treated it like a master class. And If I had had more time, I probably would have worked with eight producers on this album.”

And behind this fantastic, limitless ambition is a petit, precocious Russian girl with a smile bigger than one would have imagined was possible for her. At 4 years old, Regina dreamed of becoming a composer of classical music. But Grown-Ups explained to her that this would be extremely difficult, particularly for a girl, but she could at least try to become a good pianist. And that’s what she became. But as she progressed through adolescence, Regina left classical music for contemporary songwriting. “I had the realization that I could never become a classical pianist, because I just didn’t have the discipline, or even the endurance. At 17, I discovered Joni Mitchell and Ani DiFranco, and then I started writing my own songs. Oddly enough, in a way very different than how I had imagined, I achieved my dream that I’d had as a little girl: to be a composer!”

The meshing of her solid training in classical music with her writing of contemporary pop put her somewhere between Chopin and female songwriters like Mitchell, and Regina found herself in her own category. Regina’s masterpiece on this record, “Human of the Year,” which serves as the zenith of Far is a vertiginous catharsis of a song, romantic but without fuss, a composition showcasing her vocal prowess and composing ability luminously. It’s the quintessential song of an imaginative woman who as a little girl dreamed of sliding down Niagara Falls on the back of a unicorn, or adventuring to a land of wonders. The album unites Regina’s energy and generosity, in a word- it’s ‘réginerant,’ [note: they’re making up a word using Regina’s name to describe her style- a little like saying, it’s ‘Reginatastic!’] a notion Regina half-refutes: “The qualities of my music don’t really only belong to the world of children, because I think that adult also have the right to feel all the wonder a child experiences. More than just thinking about the past or the future, I want to live in the present, and just try my hardest.”

Inset, first page:

“Regina, the actress?”

-Her answer is no, despite all of her charisma and femme-fatale beauty, and even though her music had been used in many successful TV shows, and she participated in the soundtrack for Prince Caspian. Regina doesn’t envision herself as being able to throw herself into a career as an actress. “I love movies, and I’ve had many offers, but I just don’t feel ready for that. I think that before trying I would have to study film extensively, as I did with music.”

By Stephane Deschamps

Album: Far (Warner)

Concert: July 1^st, in Paris at the Bataclan

www.reginaspektor.com