Carbon monoxide, as I take you home

Since the gig on Saturday I've been listening a fair bit to Regina Spektor's album Soviet Kitsch. It's great and different in many ways to her more recent album Begin to Hope. The songs mostly seem to consist of Regina playing piano and singing, with an occasional guitar or drum kit accompanying. The highlights include the opener Ode to Divorce, Carbon Monoxide which she played on Saturday and the amazing Us which is a fast-paced string driven anthem with a beautiful melody. Also there's Chemo Limo, which seems to be about a woman with cancer debating the merits of paying for her treatment when there are other pressing matters to address. This song has a split personality with a frantic, funny chorus.

Begin to Hope has more complicated orchestration and is a little more listener friendly in some ways, but both albums are great. Regina really does remind me of Tori Amos in many ways although she seems to be less of a difficult personality. She's very quiet and charming on stage. She really knows how to rock out on a piano, though so you can't be deceived by the charm too much.

There's a review of the gig in The Age here, although I think it's a little superficial.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/music/walking-schtick-a-winner-cane-and-all/2007/07/15/1184438153367.html