Cultural Dessert

Regina Spektor is a singer who tends to get filed under ‘acquired taste’ but is definitely a taste worth acquiring. Moscow-born Regina Spektor grew up in New York where she studied classical piano. Her piano-backed pop/rock ballads remind me of Nerina Pallot (reviewed her in May 2006) with similarly clever lyrics. But Regina Spektor’s childlike voice is very much in the Kate Bush/ Joanna Newsom vein. Her latest album ‘Far’ is less earnest and more upbeat than Joanna Newsom (reviewed here in November 2006): jaunty but wistful.