Begin to Hope

Regina Spektor amazes the audience with her powerful and clean vocals

Singer and songwriter Regina Spektor was born in Moscow, Russia in 1980 and when she was nine her family moved to Bronx, New York. Being musicians themselves the parents gave her a classic music education for they early saw their daughter had a great gift. Regina started writing songs when a teenager and already then her friends admired her ability to compose interesting melodies and idiosyncratic texts. Most of her songs represent imagined stories with unusual characters, and the way she performs her songs is very specific. Spektor does not simply possess a beautiful and strong voice – she often uses different unexpected techniques, makes up her own words, combines languages. Her fantasy along with remarkable intelligence are her mostly noticeable qualities as a person and as a musician Regina masterfully plays piano and amazes the viewers and listeners with powerful and clean vocals. Begin To Hope is her fourth album though the first two are not easy to find and thus the previous one, Soviet Kitsch of 2004, is more well-know and has provided Spektor with a significant fan base. This year’s creation has a more professional studio sound and again gives a wonderful opportunity to enjoy Regina’s talent skills and.

Begin To Hope is a marvelous play of imagination

Begin To Hope is a fantastic album, a marvelous play of imagination. Starting from the very first sounds of it one can realize that there has been done a great job regarding the instrumentation: the opener Fidelity and the rhythmical single On The Radio are adorned by great orchestral parts while the pop track Better is distinguished for the synths and drums. The soft and quiet song Samson has some allusions to the bible and tells about the fragile relations and the melodious Hotel Song is on the contrary filled with energy especially on the chorus. Apres Moi is probably one of the most unusual songs ever written by Regina Spektor, beginning with simple piano and calm vocals and gradually turning into a monumental, meaningful and emotional orchestra featured composition. Regina sings in different languages and experiments with the tone qualities of her rich voice. The stylish track 20 Years Of Snow also suprises with the hip-hop interlude and crazy mixtures of tempos. On Lady lyrical jazz elements are introduced from time to time creating the impression of arranged disharmony and the closer Summer In The City ends Begin To Hope with inspiring optimism.

Regina Spektor adheres to no definite style

Regina Spektor’s soft vocals are able to evoke the most diverse emotions but they definitely cannot leave one indifferent. Besides the way she keeps experimenting with the sound of her voice by changing the pitch level or the intensity gives a special charm to her songs. The grandiose sounding of the basic part of Begin To Hope tracks defines the album against the background of the singer’s previous works and continues her way to the worldwide fame. As for the lyrics, Spektor seems to have an infinite source of wittiness for the new texts are filled with word play, suitable epithets and metaphors emphasizing the vividness of the images created by the artist. Most of the songs resemble finished short stories, which makes it twice more interesting to listen to the album. Influenced by classical, folk, Russian and hip-hop music, Regina Spektor adheres to no definite style preferring to give each song a unique character and direction. Using a variety of instruments and possessing a widest possible range of vocals this talented singer has an enormous field of creative activity at her disposal and in this respect we can be sure that it is not long before she creates something new, as well astonishing and unlimited as Begin To Hope.