Moscow-born singer-songwriter Regina Spektor, last seen eking into our Top 100 of the 00’s list for her album Begin To Hope, has a new record on the horizon; music fans who like their idiosyncratic songsmiths served with a heaping side of pop smarts should already be hip to Spektor’s sublime brand of off-kilter piano-pop. But never fear: until Ms. Spektor’s What We Saw From the Cheap Seats arrives in late spring, you can nourish yourself on a steady diet of her previous records and What We Saw‘s lead single, “All the Rowboats”.
On first listen, the song appears to be business as usual for Regina, simply by totally NOT being business as usual. If that doesn’t make any sense, consider that we’re talking about an artist whose breakthrough pop single fused sweet, delicate vocal hiccups and plucky piano chords to a hip-hop-worthy boom-bap; “Rowboats”, planted firmly in the minor key, finds Spektor’s trademark ivory-tickling scampering all over a stormy, baroque electronica instrumental. It’s intriguing, and Regina’s melodic gifts clearly haven’t rusted over in three years since 2009’s Far. What We Saw From the Cheap Seats can’t arrive soon enough.
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