Regina Spektor - Laughing With

Russian born singer songwriter Regina Spektor returns with a new album Far released on the 22nd June. Regina has often structured her songs in unpredictable ways, producing pieces that are eclectic and unique. Her style has won her an army of fans, and her influence can be heard in contemporary female singers such as Kate Nash (her songs Habanera and Little Red are very obviously influenced by Regina) and Marina and the Diamonds, even although in the UK she has never crossed over to the mainstream.

Laughing With is the debut single from the album, a downbeat tune where Regina tackles the heavy topic of faith. It’s a difficult one to pull off, and not a subject that many writers would dare tackle at risk of being criticised. However Regina has gained enough artistic respect that she can sing “No one laughs at God when the cops knock on their door and they say we’ve got some bad news sir,” and be taken seriously. Unfortunately the sentiment of the song is pretty simple; that people don’t appreciate god until they are faced with traumatic events. Musically Laughing With may not have the quirkiness or eccentricity of some of her older material, with her vocal in particular far more subdued than past glories, but the song manages to nag away through its repetition and still get under the skin.

It seems that although the record company have decided to lead with this somewhat ‘risky’ single, to mitigate any potential damage they have also released two further videos of other songs from the album, to show fans that not everything is as sad and maudlin as Laughing With. The first of these is Dance Anthem of the 80’s which sees Regina on more familiar territory; quirky, cute, rhythmic and sweetly adorable, whilst the second Eet comes complete with a Gone With The Wind styled video and a tune that could have easily sat on her previous album Begin To Hope.

Here are the three songs. Dance Anthem is Breaking More Waves current favourite, what's yours ?