Regina Spektor - Soviet Kitsch

Genre rock Publisher Sire Records External Links Official Site Sire Records

Pianists are somewhat of a rarity in the popular music world. Sure, you have your Ben Folds', Fiona Apples', Tori Amos', Rufus Wainwrights', but their emergence comes once in a blue moon. Usually the top rock spots are reserved for guitarists, but every once in a while a person brazen enough makes a non-rock instrument something people can listen to with a pop mindset.

Regina Spektor's weapon of choice is the piano, and she's classically trained to boot. On her third album Soviet Kitsch, she brings her talents and unique blend of old and new piano tricks into an amalgamation of eleven songs. Her sometimes spastic lyrics and delivery are complimented by the gentle, and sometime furious, riffs on the ivories.

The fanatic Strokes fan may know the Russian-born Spektor from her opening up for the band in 2003, and was a co-vocalist on the band's b-side "Modern Girls & Old Fashioned Men." If you don't like The Strokes, be satisfied that she bears no musical resemblance to the NYC quintet or the greasy manner they go about their business.

Spektor's Soviet Kitsch undulates between slow and fast tempo cyclical piano riffs that can unexpectedly change pace on a dime. For the most part it's just Spektor on vocals and piano, but she changes things up a bit by including drum beats, strings, and electric guitars for dramatic weight. The only rocker on the disc is "Your Honor" and it would make any Sleater-Kinney fan proud.

Drawing a vocal style in the form of a more restrained Bjork, but with spastic raps a la Nellie McKay, Spektor's voice is pleasant to listen to even though you may have no idea what her train of thought is, or her contradictory lyrics mean. "Carbon Monoxide" stands out with an upbeat tempo, but with lyrics that would deem it acceptable to kill yourself. "The Flowers" eventually degenerates into some kind of Fiddler on the Roof hoe-down, while "Us" proclaims that "We're living in a den of thieves and it's contagious."

Despite the horrible album cover that looks like a glam band gone wrong, the album is solid and is sequenced for balance, always keeping the listener on a roller coaster of tempos for the album's entirety.