Regina Spektor has the sort of charm so irresistible that it
would make Audrey Tautou blush.
Born in Russia and raised in the Bronx, Spektor is scheduled to
perform Tuesday at the El Rey Theatre. On record, the quirky
songstress delivers sweeping melodies tinged with an alluring
foreign accent that build on her inventive piano compositions.
Paired with her playful and often abstract lyrics, the result is a
collection of songs that vary dramatically in style and energy.
She has succeeded admirably in this endeavor. Her newest album,
the forthcoming “Begin to Hope,” is home to 12 tracks
that range from mainstream pop songs to jazzy ballads to
opera-influenced military stomps.
Inspiration for her songs come from countless sources, though
she admits that even she doesn’t know what some of her songs
mean.
“I’ve noticed that a lot of the time people ask
about specific songs and I never really know what to say,”
she said. “I used to try and make stuff up and sometimes it
would even sound legit to me, but I just decided that it makes no
sense.”
Spektor is approaching the end of her U.S. tour, a series of
concerts that ends Tuesday night. She has taken the opportunity to
debut songs from “Begin to Hope” at these shows, but
emphasizes the unpredictable differences between her live
performances and the experience of listening to her albums.
“Shows are not really records in their entirety being
played live,” Spektor said. “They’re a
combination of some songs that I know people really love to hear
and a lot of new stuff. I’m playing stuff that’s on the
new record, and I’m playing the stuff that’s written
after the new record.”
The new songs will not be entirely unfamiliar, however. Spektor
has used the Internet to introduce her new material, making gems
such as “On the Radio” and “Fidelity”
available for download on iTunes and posting others on her
MySpace.
“It’s really cool to see, when I start playing those
songs, that people already know them,” she said.
The new album, due in stores June 13, finds Spektor
experimenting with a more produced pop sound than 2003’s
“Soviet Kitsch.” She attributes this in part to her
work with producer David Kahne.
“I learned a lot from him about recording and being in the
studio and arranging,” Spektor said.
Much of the lush instrumentation on “Begin to Hope”
will not be a part of her live show, however, as she is touring
solo with only her piano to back her up.
“I wrote the songs on my own and I play them on my
own,” she said. “I just play them how I want to play
them. There are certain songs that I wrote with more production in
mind and those are the ones that I never really played on my own
live anyway.”
Spektor and Kahne found each other through their mutual friends,
The Strokes. Kahne produced the most recent Strokes album,
“First Impressions of the Earth,” and as a fellow New
Yorker, Spektor never hesitates to express her admiration for the
garage rockers. With Spektor, though, the feeling is often
mutual.
“They’re probably my favorite modern band,”
she said. “They took me on tour when nobody had ever even
entertained the idea of taking me on tour.”
Though she has a headlining tour of her own and plays venues
twice as big as those she frequented in her NYC club days, she
feels right at home on stage.
“I’m very comfortable with it,” she said.
“(The fans) have been very loving.”
Spektor has come a long from way playing hunched over a piano in
Russia to traveling the U.S. in support of her unique pop
creations. Even she hasn’t quite adjusted to the idea,
describing the popularity of her Los Angeles show with disbelief:
“You know it’s been sold out for a while?”