In the four years since her last record, Regina Spektor gave birth, recorded the theme to Orange is the New Black, and was almost featured on Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book. Now, music’s favourite lovably quirky singer-songwriter is back, and continues to surprise with Remember Us to Life.
Seven albums into her career, you’d think it would be tough to be surprised listening to a Spektor record. After all, this is the same singer who has a song about building computers out of macaroni, and drops choruses in French.
Then she springs a track like “Grand Hotel,” a lush ballad about humans and devils sharing hotel amenities. Or “The Trapper and the Furrier,” which sounds like a twisted Brothers Grimm tale set in G minor.
These moments of theatricality and winding narratives are vintage Spektor. It’s not hard to picture songs like “Grand Hotel” or “The Trapper and the Furrier” accompanying children’s books. Similarly, “Obsolete” is Spektor at her most heartbreaking, her voice going full Broadway. “Why am I incomplete?” she belts before a sea of ominous chords threatens to devour the song whole.
For those looking for Spektor’s trademark lyrical quirks, this record has you covered. “Older and Taller” may seem like a bouncy Sara Bareilles-type track, but her meandering vocal delivery, coupled with quietly defiant lines like “Enjoy your youth / Sounds like a threat / But I will anyway,” make a surprisingly effective combo.
Spektor shines brightest on the record when her voice and her classical piano training are given space to breathe. “The Light” starts out softly with just Spektor and her piano, delicate arpeggios ringing out as she sings. Even as new layers get added—some choral flourishes here, some reverb-heavy guitar there—the spotlight is still firmly hers.
On her poppier tracks, Spektor is more hit-and-miss. Lead single “Bleeding Heart” matches her lyrical wit well with programmed drums and 8-bit synths, and she’s just earnest enough to sell the track’s sweet charm. However, her Anthony Kiedis-style rapping on “Small Bill$” suffers under weak lyricism and sounds out of place. The album is at its weakest when she plays it too safe. “Black and White” is a pretty song in its own right, but it pales in comparison to some of the more ambitious songs on the record.
Remember Us to Life can be boiled down to a mixture of torch songs and fairy tales, with sprinklings of Spektor’s own brand of pop. Even after seven albums, Spektor’s strangeness and eccentricities remain her biggest asset. She thrives on the twists and turns we experience in her music, and her ability to bend her music into new shapes. “What a strange, strange world we live in,” Spektor remarks on “The Trapper and the Furrier.” Let’s hope she keeps inviting us back to hers.
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