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[Jamiemm]

It's called "Far". I'm so excited!!

http://pitchfork.com/news/34833-regina-spektor-reveals-new-album-ifari/

On the quirky scale, Regina Spektor makes Zooey Deschanel look like Jennifer Aniston. Everything about the Russian-born singer-songwriter is a little bit skewed-- her accent, phrasing, pronunciation, hooks. So, after toiling in the downtown NYC scene for the first half of the decade, it was a pleasant surprise when her 2006 album Begin to Hope cracked Billboard's Top 20 on the strength of bittersweet pop bites like "Fidelity" and "Better". Based on an advance listen to some of the tracks from her follow-up, Far (due in June via Sire), we can happily report that success hasn't spoiled Spektor's oddball charisma.

For Far, the singer enlisted a quartet of hit-making producers: Begin to Hope's David Kahne, Mike Elizondo (Fiona Apple, Maroon 5), Garret "Jacknife" Lee (U2, R.E.M.), and-- most surprisingly-- ELO frontman/Paul McCartney and George Harrison collaborator/Traveling Wilburys member/overall rock'n'roll institution Jeff Lynne.

Though her production collaborators come from a wide range of backgrounds, it's tough to mistake Spektor for anyone else. Among the songs that may be included on the record (the tracklist has yet to be set), there are dark narratives ("Genius Next Door"), sprightly sure-to-be hits ("The Calculation"), and some trademark goofiness ("Folding Chair", which features Spektor doing an uncanny dolphin imitation). As she gets ready to work on the final mixes for Far, Spektor took some time out to talk to us about her creative process, working with Jeff Lynne, and her sci-fi prediction for the year 2309.

Pitchfork: On the record, you worked with four producers with pretty different styles: Jeff Lynne, Mike Elizondo, "Jacknife" Lee, and David Kahne. Were you worried about creating a cohesive sound?

Regina Spektor: That question never entered my mind. I just thought, "I'll work with a few producers, learn from each one, and I'll have a record." I'm pretty much stuck sounding like myself so it's going to be cohesive in a way. And matching producers with songs was done kind of thoughtlessly-- it wasn't like I was sitting there thinking, "Well, this person would make more sense with this song." I didn't do research or anything like that. It's almost like throwing stuff on the floor and seeing how it lands, you know?

Pitchfork: So you didn't have any sort of grand scheme in mind, necessarily.

RS: I'd like to say I did but I really didn't. With novels or operas or other grand works of art I'm like, "Wow, how the fuck did you do that?" I'm much more on the level of understanding how someone can draw a picture or write a poem or short story. I'm into immediate gratification. I have enough of an attention span to follow through on one concept...and then I'm bored. If artists were machines, then I'm just a different kind of machine.

Pitchfork: So if you were a machine you'd be, like, a toaster?

RS: [makes ding sound] Yeah, I'd probably be a toaster [laughs]. Actually, I'd be a toaster oven because they're more versatile. And I like making grilled cheese.

Pitchfork: Jeff Lynne is a real old-school rock'n'roll great, how did you hook up with him? Were you a big fan of his before you guys started working together?

RS: It's kind of funny. Actually, it's kind of sad-- I didn't know who he was or what he had done when I asked him if he'd like to produce some songs. I'm the opposite of a knowledgeable music aficionado; tomorrow, I could discover an amazing artist that people have been listening to for the past 60 years and be, like, "wow."

The reason I asked to contact Jeff was because I saw he produced the last Tom Petty record, Highway Companion, which I really loved. I noted him down so next time I did a record I could actually tell people, like, "I have a few producers I'd like to check out." I remember the silence on the phone when I said the name "Jeff Lynne" to Tom Whalley, the president of Warner Bros. But Tom was really positive about it.

By the time I was about to meet Jeff I was sufficiently nervous. But he's really sweet. We drank a lot of tea. And after I worked with him, I started to understand, like, "Oh yeah! That's Jeff-- I know that song." Sometimes you know the song or voice but you have no idea who sings it. But Jeff's definitely in the world of legends. He had these banjoleles-- a mix between a banjo and a ukulele-- and I picked one up and he was like, "Yeah, George [Harrison] gave that to me." I was like, "Oh my god," and then put it down.

Pitchfork: After you learned more about his background, did you think, "Oh, he probably won't work with me"?

RS: No. The myth of rock'n'roll doesn't weigh heavily on me. If, god forbid, he wasn't cool and didn't do good stuff with my music, I wouldn't have been thinking about what he's done in the past or who he is. I mean, I didn't even know any Traveling Wilburys stuff until after I worked with him. I think the exciting thing about Jeff is that he made amazing stuff just recently. I feel like he was really inspiring when I was working with him and wasn't just resting on his laurels.

Pitchfork: One of the Jeff Lynne-produced songs is called "The Wallet" and it's about finding someone else's wallet, then finding a Blockbuster card in the wallet, and then returning the wallet back to a Blockbuster. It's great. But, listening to it, I couldn't help but think: "Who goes to Blockbuster anymore?"

RS: That's funny because I wrote that song a bunch of years ago and I remember playing it on tour and thinking, "Do they even know what Blockbuster is in other countries?" Now I might need to change it to Netflix. [laughs]

It's like one of those songs that you listen to from the 20s and ask, "What's a kaputnik?" It's this thing that was obviously very important because they're singing about it, but it just doesn't exist anymore. That's why Bach and Mozart had it right by not putting in any words and making timeless instrumental music. In 300 years, when our great-great-great-grandchildren are checking out music by putting their finger into entertainment sockets, they're not going to know what "Blockbuster" or "Netflix" or "Juicy Fruit" are. They'll be like, "What's fruit?" They'll probably be living in a cement pod and eating food through intravenous tubes. They're not going to know any of this shit.

Pitchfork: Wow, I didn't think about it that way.

RS: [laughs] Maybe there is a grand scheme in me somewhere.

[BATTEREDxBRIDExLUVR!]

I*H#R*(FH#*)GH@#$(P:HFI(P#$H)FY#$H(FINH#$*T&(*#$(%&#$*&%*(#$ T&#G%*)NG&*)%#&G(_#*MG(_#*$

[old news]

Has anyone asked Amanda what kitchen appliance she would be?

[Mark!]

 
YAS!

[Jamiemm]

So, confirmed tracks are:
Folding Chair - http://respektonline.com/music/music/studio/Folding%20Chair.mp3
Genius Next Door - http://www.respektonline.com/adambab/audio/live/concerts/2005-01-21%20-%20Bowery%20Ballroom,%20New%20York%20City/04%20Genius%20Next%20Door.mp3
The Wallet - http://www.respektonline.com/adambab/audio/live/concerts/2005-07-27%20-%20Tonic,%20NYC/06%20The%20Wallet.mp3
The Calculation - New song, no recordings.

[Mark!]

 

[SeeAnne]

When I first heard these news sometime in the summer of 08 I freaked balls, but then I continued reading and it said "will be released sometime in mid- or late-2009. So I thought "Oh, fuck, that's a year and a half from now, oh well." But June is SO soon!

[music box]

!!!

[colordeaf]

I hope "Pound of Flesh" is on it.

It's my favourite unreleased song of hers.



I'm glad there's going to be more Regina goodness soon.

[BATTEREDxBRIDExLUVR!]

hoping for:
blue lips
a lesson in how fleeting preservation is
open
rockland county
human of the year
loveology

expecting:
maybe two of those

[music box]

from regina's myspace blog...

In the summer i'm going to do some festivaling and shows in Europe and the UK, and then in the fall and onwards tour in America... Obviously plans come and go and change and never turn out how you thought, but i am hoping to see all the places i've been to, and also visit tons of new places this time... New countries too... The world is so big, for such a small world... All the dates for that will get posted pretty soon, once they are finalized.  I am already sure i am playing the Hultsfred Festival in Sweden, on Thursday, July 9.

i am definitely catching another one of her shows. they are so much fun.

[Captain Oblivious]

I would lovelovelove to see Regina live. I hope she comes to Ireland again, i couldn't afford the last gig.

[yosmark]

from regina's myspace blog...

In the summer i'm going to do some festivaling and shows in Europe and the UK, and then in the fall and onwards tour in America... Obviously plans come and go and change and never turn out how you thought, but i am hoping to see all the places i've been to, and also visit tons of new places this time... New countries too... The world is so big, for such a small world... All the dates for that will get posted pretty soon, once they are finalized.  I am already sure i am playing the Hultsfred Festival in Sweden, on Thursday, July 9.

i am definitely catching another one of her shows. they are so much fun.

She has to come to México.

[imaginary friend]

David Kahne likes to play (and play and play...) on his clients' recordings as if they were his own (see: Fishbone, the Bangles). Seeing him listed among the album's producers = not a good sign.

Fortunately, he didn't produce all of it. 

#@!

[music box]

from regina's myspace blog...

In the summer i'm going to do some festivaling and shows in Europe and the UK, and then in the fall and onwards tour in America... Obviously plans come and go and change and never turn out how you thought, but i am hoping to see all the places i've been to, and also visit tons of new places this time... New countries too... The world is so big, for such a small world... All the dates for that will get posted pretty soon, once they are finalized.  I am already sure i am playing the Hultsfred Festival in Sweden, on Thursday, July 9.

i am definitely catching another one of her shows. they are so much fun.

She has to come to México.

i hope she does!