I have long loved and admired Regina Spektor. Her voice is literally like the mystical land of milk and honey. It is filled with lush clarity and sweetness, which allows you to hold her hand as she vocally guides you through the landscapes of life. Thus, Remember Us To Life is like a musical scrapbook, where each song is a picture into another world of another human being.
Remember Us To Life is one of the most intimately soulful albums I have had the pleasure to hear. Its first song, Bleeding Heart, is a perfect introduction to the next ten tracks that will feel like diverse images of life. Like a bleeding heart, Spektor writes songs that have no problem telling listeners of its sadness and joy. It is freedom of sentiment and spirit that allows audiences to vividly see the dancing ghosts you meet at Grand Hotel or the odyssey of The Trapper And The Furrier as Spektor marvels the ironies and idiosyncrasies of making a living from causing death. Yet, Spektor has always been known for capturing the nuances of life, and turning them into wisdom.
Regina Spektor – Older and Taller [Official Audio]//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js
One thing that has me enamored with this album is that there are so many lyrics that can be turned into phrases of mindfulness. There were several quotable instances that I imagine, at least, one college student writing the words down and making a poster from it. Spektor writes the words you want to be repeated in your mind as both reminders you are living and inspirations that you can feel alive. For example, during Older & Taller, she repeatedly sings “Enjoy your youth sounds like a threat”. In that lyric alone, I receive what Oprah calls an ” AHA! moment” where I realize how disappointing and harmful it is to say enjoy your youth as if getting old means death. No wonder elderly people fear aging or younger generations feel a pressure to enjoy life because. No one see years passing by as graceful because the future ones are painted grimly. Of course, Spektor sings after the lyrics, that despite the threatening tone of this old adage, she will “enjoy it (youth) anyway”. Yet, what is so masterful about this lyric and the entire record is how each song leaps from music into spirituality. Remember Us To Life allows listeners to discover how they fit in the spectrums of peace and frustration that comes with living through Spektor’s piano-driven melodies.
Regina Spektor – Small Bill$ [Official Audio]//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js
Favorite Tracks:
Small Bills: a playful beat for an, at times, rough reality. What human being has not looked into their wallet and wondered, “Where did my money go?”. Money can leave our hands like a waterfall compared to the uphill climb it can be to attain it. Thus, although this song is the most danceable- Caribbean infused track of the record, it is more importantly an emblem of Spektor’s ability to take the smallest details of a life and make them universal.
Obsolete: very few are the songs that capture this sentiment so perfectly that you almost feel like Spekto has used you as a writing subject. We have all felt like we are nothing. Sometimes, that emotion has nothing to do with whether we matter to a person or situation. It is simply an ingrained feeling of numbness that makes you want to lie down, look outside, and say” I have nothing to offer you world, nor do I wish to offer you anything.” Wow is that a powerfully negative, but vastly true feeling. This song may be more than six minutes but the brokenness of Spektor’s voice and arresting piano arrangement makes it too quick for how relatable it is to our moments of obsoleteness.
Older And Taller: fun, vibrant, and true…. what better way to define this song that talks about both the discrepancies of growing older and how we define growing up.
Tornadoland: Spektor’s innate talent comes from having a voice that embodies the emotional wreckage life or a relationship can leave us in like, a tornadoland. Yet, what makes her voice sensational is that for however sad it may sing, there is a friendly warmth hidden in every note. This song shows Spektor is one of the few people you can musically turn to that will understand that life is not easy, but it can be better.
To Buy Remember Us To Life, Buy Tickets To Her Upcoming Concerts, or Learn More About The Musically Magical Regina Spektor Click Here. Remember Us To Life comes out on September 30.
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